Assessment resources for Classroom Teachers and Students (ARCT) is NZCER's current contract to the New Zealand Ministry of Education to provide assessment support for New Zealand teachers. There are three main areas of work: research and development; resource development; and assessment services.
This book is the proceedings from the NZCER conference, Assessing Adult Learning: Literacy and Numeracy Competencies, held in Wellington in August 2010. The day was focused on assessment in literacy and numeracy, at individual, organisational, national and international levels. It also explored the role of the new national assessment tool for adult learners, which was made available earlier in 2010.
In 2005, the MOE and the NZQA began a pilot programme to trial the use of the latest generation of calculators which included Computer Algebraic Systems (CAS) capabilities. The intent was to give quality professional development to effectively use CAS in the classrooms and to eventually allow the calculators in CAS-enabled NCEA assessments in the same way that graphics calculators are currently used.
NZCER evaluated an extension of the pilot in 2006-2007. The evaluation explored changes to:
Memorising a large repertoire of basic facts takes a significant cognitive load off the brain, allowing greater focus on the mathematics being explored. Neill outlines the benefits of having automated basic facts and advises on progressive memorisation of several key number facts.
This research reports on the impact of Level 1 NCEA on the teaching of mathematics and science. It provides an in-depth analysis of the dynamics of change in the study teachers’ mathematics and science classrooms in response to the NCEA implementation. A range of aspects of classroom practice were identified where one way of working or set of emphases could be balanced against another way of working/set of emphases. Findings with respect to shifts in the balances of the alternatives outlined for these aspects of classroom practices are presented.
NZCER, for Tertiary Education Learning Outcomes Policy (Learning for Living), Ministry of Education,
Research report
The purpose of this research study is to contribute to an understanding of what is required to enhance the assessment capability of tertiary education providers of learning in literacy, numeracy, and language.
Instruction can help students develop a richer understanding of estimation and a wider range of strategies.
The students in this study started with a fairly limited understanding of estimation, often equating it with rounding. They quickly developed new skills and awareness of how estimation could enrich their mathematical skills.
Keeping a journal in the mathematics classroom has clear benefits. In this study a group of students kept journals on their mathematics lessons and were found to become more regular and deeper metacognitive thinkers. Strong links between journals and self-regulation are made in the research literature.
This exploratory study of self-regulated learning for mathematics education looked at how to encourage self-regulating behaviour using reflective journalling and models to represent problem situations.
Research into mathematics education has highlighted that many students struggle to develop an appropriate understanding of the equals sign. When over 300 students at a large intermediate school were asked to demonstrate their understanding of the sign by solving a simple equation, more than half interpreted it incorrectly. This article considers why a mathematical understanding of the equals sign is important, and suggests some strategies that can be used in the classroom to help learners establish its meaning.
