Project information
End date
September 2016
Partners
Arizona State University, University of California at Berkeley
Background
The Mathematics Assessment Project (MAP) has produced the Classroom Challenges formative assessment lessons embodying formative assessment and collaborative learning. These lessons, although popular, can be demanding for teachers, both pedagogically and in practical terms, so there is potential for technology to help. However, the materials' focus on unstructured problems, multiple solution paths and collaborative learning is beyond the capabilities of most existing computer-based learning systems, especially when it comes to capturing and assessing students' work on rich activities.
Project summary
The Formative Assessment with Computational Technologies (FACT) project is based at Arizona State University, in partnership with UC Berkeley and The University of Nottingham, with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The project aims to address the challenge of producing fully computer-based versions of the Classroom Challenges without diluting their pedagogical values. Ultimately, it is intended that the computer will analyze students work and respond with formative feedback and probing questions – or at least guide and support the teacher in doing so.
FACT will develop two main software components:
The Media System
Aims to provide a 'natural medium' for students to work on rich tasks and collaborative activities, without constraining their ability to freely choose which mathematical tools and techniques to apply. It will also implement proven collaborative activities from the paper material, such as group card matching and poster making activities. The current plan is to use tablet computers to create a 'canvas' on which the student can freely write and draw, assisted by various mathematical tools.
The Analysis System
Will support teachers in analysing their students' work and deciding how and when to respond with formative feedback. Rather than traditional right/wrong scoring, this involves identifying work that embodies common misconceptions or weaknesses, and formulating probing questions to help students improve their understanding or seek more elegant solutions. This development will start with tools to help teachers perform this analysis themselves. This will generate data which the team can incorporate into a 'knowledge base' with the eventual aim is to automatically generate feedback, possibly in real time during a lesson to help the teacher plan their interventions.
Project outcomes
The project's output will include a set of prototype lessons implemented using the new software. The software itself will be designed to be flexible enough to implement a wide range of classroom material.
Research outcomes will include design research into the development of the software and investigations into whether the system has effects on classroom culture or teacher practices. A particular focus is whether the computer-based system prompts teacher-student and student-student interactions comparable to those seen in the paper lessons.
The Nottingham team will be providing consultancy and feedback, contributing to the design of the software tools and conducting research, in UK and US schools.