There has been widespread interest in the potential impact of the graphics calculator on system wide 'high stakes' end of secondary school mathematics examinations. This thesis has focused on one aspect, the way in which examiners have gone about writing examination questions in a graphics calculator assumed environment. Two aspects of this issue have been investigated. The first concerns the types of questions that can be asked in a graphics calculator assumed environment and their frequency of use. The second addresses the level of skills assessed and whether with the
introduction of the graphics calculator has been associated with an increase in difficulty as has been frequently suggested. A descriptive case study methodology was used with three examination
boards, the Danish Ministry of Education, Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority and the International Baccalaureate Organization.
Four distinct categories of questions were identified which differed according to the potential for the graphics calculator to contribute to the solution of the question and the freedom the student was then given to make use of this potential. While all examination boards made use of the full range of questions, the tendency was to under use questions in which required the use of the calculator for their solution. In respect to the level of skills assessed, it was found that both prior to and after the introduction of the graphics calculator, all three examination boards used question types that primarily tested the use of lower level mathematical skills. With exceptions, where graphics calculator active questions have been used, the tendency has been to continue to ask routine mechanistic questions. In this regard, there is no evidence of the introduction of the graphics calculator being associated with either lowering or raising of the level of the mathematical skills assessed.
For all cases studied, the graphics calculator was introduced with minimal change to the curriculum and examination policies. The role of the graphics calculator in the enacted curriculum was left implicit. The resulting examinations were consistent with the stated policies. However, the inexperience of some examiners and a general policy of containment or minimal change enabled examiners to minimise the impact of the introduction of the graphics calculators on assessment.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/216526 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Brown, Roger George, rogergbrown@mac.com |
| Publisher | Swinburne University of Technology. |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.swin.edu.au/), Copyright Roger George Brown |
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