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Full-Text Articles in Education
The Levels Of Conceptual Understanding In Statistics (Locus) Project: Results Of The Pilot Study, Douglas Whitaker, Steven Foti, Tim Jacobbe
The Levels Of Conceptual Understanding In Statistics (Locus) Project: Results Of The Pilot Study, Douglas Whitaker, Steven Foti, Tim Jacobbe
Numeracy
The Levels of Conceptual Understanding in Statistics (LOCUS) project (NSF DRL-111868) has created assessments that measure conceptual (rather than procedural) understanding of statistics as outlined in GAISE Framework (Franklin et al., 2007, Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education, American Statistical Association). Here we provide a brief overview of the LOCUS project and present results from multiple-choice items on the pilot administration of the assessments with data collected from over 3400 students in grades 6-12 across six states. These results help illustrate students’ understanding of statistical topics prior to the implementation of the Common Core State Standards. Using the …
The Quantitative Reasoning For College Science (Quarcs) Assessment, 1: Development And Validation, Katherine B. Follette, Donald W. Mccarthy, Erin Dokter, Sanlyn Buxner, Edward Prather
The Quantitative Reasoning For College Science (Quarcs) Assessment, 1: Development And Validation, Katherine B. Follette, Donald W. Mccarthy, Erin Dokter, Sanlyn Buxner, Edward Prather
Numeracy
Science is an inherently quantitative endeavor, and general education science courses are taken by a majority of college students. As such, they are a powerful venue for advancing students’ skills and attitudes toward mathematics. This article reports on the development and validation of the Quantitative Reasoning for College Science (QuaRCS) Assessment, a numeracy assessment instrument designed for college-level general education science students. It has been administered to more than four thousand students over eight semesters of refinement. We show that the QuaRCS is able to distinguish varying levels of quantitative literacy and present performance statistics for both individual items and …
Assessment For Improvement: Two Models For Assessing A Large Quantitative Reasoning Requirement, Mary C. Wright, Joseph E. Howard
Assessment For Improvement: Two Models For Assessing A Large Quantitative Reasoning Requirement, Mary C. Wright, Joseph E. Howard
Numeracy
We present two models for assessment of a large and diverse quantitative reasoning (QR) requirement at the University of Michigan. These approaches address two key challenges in assessment: (1) dissemination of findings for curricular improvement and (2) resource constraints associated with measurement of large programs. Approaches we present for data collection include convergent validation of self-report surveys, as well as use of mixed methods and learning analytics. Strategies we present for dissemination of findings include meetings with instructors to share data and best practices, sharing of results through social media, and use of easily accessible dashboards. These assessment approaches may …
Assessing Numeracy In The Upper Elementary And Middle School Years, Carol Ann Gittens
Assessing Numeracy In The Upper Elementary And Middle School Years, Carol Ann Gittens
Numeracy
Numeracy is the ability or tendency to reason critically about quantitative information. The preponderance of published research on numeracy examines this construct among either pre-K or early elementary samples, students with developmental challenges, or is focused on post-secondary and adult cohorts. The numeracy skills of upper-elementary and middle school students is less documented and understood, most notably because of the lack of valid instruments that are developmentally appropriate for the age range. A numeracy scale for use among upper-elementary and middle school students is introduced in this paper. Scale validation was performed using a gender-balanced, racially / ethnically diverse sample …
Educational Assessment Is An Enduring Theme Of Numeracy, H. L. Vacher
Educational Assessment Is An Enduring Theme Of Numeracy, H. L. Vacher
Numeracy
The Assessment Theme Collection in this issue brings the count of papers on QL assessment to 22 out of the 136 papers (16.2%) in the journal’s first 15 issues. After the first ten issues (our first five years), the counts were 13 and 85 respectively (15.1%). A table in this editorial updates the list of our papers on the subject.