Becoming a Teacher of Statistics

Becoming a Teacher of Statistics

Portfolio

Susan Sexton

Probability and Statistics for Secondary Teachers

STAT 6070

University of Georgia

Fall 2007

Instructor: Christine Franklin

Recommendation 6: Integrate assessments that are aligned with course goals to improve as well as evaluate student learning.

Hubbard, R. (1997). Assessment and the process of learning statistics. Journal of Statistics Education, 5, Article 1. Retrieved October 23, 2007, from http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/v5n1/hubbard.html

Abstract:

Because assessment drives student learning, it can be used as a powerful tool to encourage students to adopt deep rather than surface learning strategies. Many standard assessment questions tend to reinforce the memorization of procedures rather than the understanding of concepts. To counteract this trend, some techniques for constructing questions that test understanding of concepts and that address specific goals of statistical education are described and illustrated with examples.

Hubbard addresses the long standing discussion of appropriate assessment for student learning. Traditional assessment techniques (e.g. multiple choice tests) which have students “often working individually on paper-and-pencil tasks, with limited time to complete the tasks…may give incomplete and perhaps distorted picture of students’ performance” (NCTM, 2000, p. 23). Hubbard asserts that assessments, which are predictable in nature, will lead students to undesirable habits of learning (i.e. taking the time to try to learn the material at the end, as opposed to during the unit of interest). Along with this undesirable learning habit, students will only come to value what is assessed on this one type of assessment. This aligns with the Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) philosophy on assessment that includes: “Students will value what you assess” (GAISE, 2005, p. 13).

Hubbard’s discussion on student learning and assessment can be viewed in terms of the classroom culture. Students, especially at the secondary and college level, bring with them years of developed learning habits that generally do not correspond with the active learning and inquiry and conceptual understanding discussed in both the GAISE and NCTM’s Principals and Standards for School Mathematics (Standards) documents. The author discusses the “surface learning approach” (para 6) that is relatively easy for instructors to utilize when constructing assessments and for students as they attempt to prove their mastery of the material. However this type of learning does not really access what the students know (and how deeply they know it). Hubbard describes her own experience of developing a classroom culture where students become “bewildered” (para 20) at the type of assessment strategies she employed. However, she has found success with students who had her for multiple courses as they became accustomed to the type of learning that she stressed within the statistics course.

Thus it can be inferred that it is the instructors’ responsibility to use a variety of methods that are “aligned with learning goals” (GAISE, 2005, p. 13) and “provide a more complete evaluation of student learning” (GAISE, 2005, p. 14). The GAISE recommendations provide a variety of example assessments that can be used as the assessment fits with the particular learning goal of interest. Hubbard also suggests assessment techniques to further gage the level of student conceptual understanding such as: “Asking students to make up the question, a reversal of the standard approach”, “Suggesting that some aspect of a standard situation changes and asking students to explain how the change affects the solution” and “[Link] graphical and symbolic representations of a concept” (para 13). The author goes a step further than just suggesting techniques, she also provides actual examples that can be used with students.

The article motivates a great discussion on student learning, assessment, and developing the classroom culture (i.e. learning environment) in which a variety of assessment techniques can be used at junctures of student learning. Many of the discussions of Standards based learning does not include or address the type of learning habits that students bring with them to the secondary and college level mathematics classroom. Furthermore the traditional types of assessment techniques are not enough at capturing students’ knowledge and conceptual understanding. The author provides examples and acknowledgement that changing one’s assessment strategies is a “difficult and time-consuming” (para 22) process but, in the end, is rewarding as well.

References

GAISE College Report. (2005). Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistical Education College Report. Alexandria, VA: American Statistical Association, http://www.amstat.org/education/gaise.

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (2000). Principles and Standards for School Mathematics. Reston, VA: Author.

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