Alternative Mathematics Assessment: A Case Study of the Development of Descriptive Problems for Elementary School in Korea

Min Kyeong Kim; Sunsook Noh

doi:10.12973/ejmste/75238

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Min Kyeong Kim ¹ ^* , Sunsook Noh ¹

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¹ Ewha Womans University, Seoul, KOREA^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

A focus on mathematical understanding and problem solving in math education has developed a need to implement alternate ways of testing to better assess the students' understanding and problem solving skills. The seventh national school curriculum (MOE, 1997) for mathematics in Korea was revised to the current curriculum (MOEHRD, 2007) to emphasize alternative assessment methods and particularly the descriptive assessment method. However, the implementation process has been slow due to the lack of support to help teachers to prepare, develop and grade the new descriptive problems. In order to help teachers implement the new assessment framework, we carried out a study with students of grade 2, 4 and 6 to test and refine a framework for developing and grading descriptive problems. Analysis and comparison of the data showed that the grading rubric based assessment of the descriptive problems revealed useful information about the quality of problems and the level of understanding of the students. The study showed that a structured approach to descriptive problem assessment can be a powerful tool for improving math education in the elementary school.

Keywords

elementary school mathematics
mathematics assessment
descriptive mathematics problems
scoring rubrics

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, Volume 6, Issue 3, 2010, 173-186

https://doi.org/10.12973/ejmste/75238

Publication date: 21 Dec 2010

Article Views: 2685

Article Downloads: 1422

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How to cite this article

APA

Kim, M. K., & Noh, S. (2010). Alternative Mathematics Assessment: A Case Study of the Development of Descriptive Problems for Elementary School in Korea. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 6(3), 173-186. https://doi.org/10.12973/ejmste/75238

Vancouver

Kim MK, Noh S. Alternative Mathematics Assessment: A Case Study of the Development of Descriptive Problems for Elementary School in Korea. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2010;6(3):173-86. https://doi.org/10.12973/ejmste/75238

AMA

Kim MK, Noh S. Alternative Mathematics Assessment: A Case Study of the Development of Descriptive Problems for Elementary School in Korea. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2010;6(3), 173-186. https://doi.org/10.12973/ejmste/75238

Chicago

Kim, Min Kyeong, and Sunsook Noh. "Alternative Mathematics Assessment: A Case Study of the Development of Descriptive Problems for Elementary School in Korea". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2010 6 no. 3 (2010): 173-186. https://doi.org/10.12973/ejmste/75238

Harvard

Kim, M. K., and Noh, S. (2010). Alternative Mathematics Assessment: A Case Study of the Development of Descriptive Problems for Elementary School in Korea. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 6(3), pp. 173-186. https://doi.org/10.12973/ejmste/75238

MLA

Kim, Min Kyeong et al. "Alternative Mathematics Assessment: A Case Study of the Development of Descriptive Problems for Elementary School in Korea". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 6, no. 3, 2010, pp. 173-186. https://doi.org/10.12973/ejmste/75238