Botswana teachers' experiences of formative assessment in Standard 4 Mathematics

Description

In 21st century education, assessment is considered a crucial role as it bridges the gap between teaching and learning. This study aimed to determine the possible effects of an intervention for Botswana Standard 4 mathematics use of formative assessment (FA) strategies in the classroom to enhance pupils’ higher-order thinking skills (HOTS). There is a recurrent educational debate in Botswana centred on pupils’ poor achievement in basic numeracy, literacy, and life skills. Specifically, Standard 4 pupils who progress to Standard 5 and 6 were perceived to be unable to handle mathematical HOTS tasks. They were considered to be weak when measured on the common achievement in large-scale assessments such as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2015.

With this backdrop in mind, the current study took a sequential embedded mixed, single-group, pre-test, intervention (training) and post-test design as a methodological strategy to investigate assessment practices related to higher-order thinking skills. The findings from the baseline survey (Phase I) revealed that teachers had some challenges in FA practices, including integration of HOTS tasks. The lesson from this phase’s research data is how to assist the teacher in implementing FA effectively to enhance mathematics teaching. Post-intervention classroom observation showed that teachers practised the integration and implementation of some FA strategies (Phase II). The findings in Phase III also revealed that the pupils’ post-interventional results in HOTS tasks significantly improved compared to their pre-assessment results. Additionally, the teachers’ experience and reflections were found to be favourably inclined to support formative assessment higher-order thinking skills as a strategy to enhance mathematics teaching. Throughout the phases of the study, Kivunja’s assessment feedback loop (AFL) model was underpinned as a theoretical point of departure to determine the classroom FA practice and integration of teaching HOTS in mathematics. The current study provides evidence of strategies to improve achievement levels in mathematics higher-order thinking skills in primary education in Botswana. / Thesis (PhD (Assessment and Quality Assurance))--University of Pretoria, 2021. / University of Pretoria Postgraduate scholarship / Educational Psychology / PhD (Assessment and Quality Assurance) / Unrestricted

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1. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/80700
2. *In his thesis, Botswana teachers’ experiences of formative assessment in Standard 4 Mathematics, Sello Editor Moyo explored the possible effects of formative assessment intervention to enhance pupils’ higher-order thinking skills (HOTS). A sequential embedded mixed, single-group, pre-test, intervention (training) and post-test design was applied to explore formative assessment practices in teaching higher-order thinking skills for Standard 4 Mathematics in primary schools. The baseline findings of the study highlighted some problems with formative assessment practices and teaching HOTS in Mathematics. Through the supported intervention, pupils’ results showed that their mathematics achievement in the post-test improved substantially on mathematical HOTS tasks compared to the pre-test. The study findings confirmed collectively from the participating teachers the benefits of formative assessment practices concerning pupils’ effective participation in classroom engagement, critical thinking and energising pupils’ interest in learning and improved Mathematics achievement. In support, the study findings highlighted the positive impact on pupils’ reactions: building confidence, well-thought responses, alertness, enjoyment and ease of interaction with the teacher and among the peers during Mathematics classes. Supervisor: Prof S. van Staden (UP) Co-supervisor: Dr C. Combrinck (UP)
3. S2021

Tags

UCTD

Educational Assessment

Additional Fields

Identifer	oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:up/oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/80700
Date	03 1900
Creators	Moyo, Sello Editor
Contributors	Van Staden, Surette, [e-mail], Combrinck, Celeste, Fraser, Billy
Publisher	University of Pretoria
Source Sets	South African National ETD Portal
Detected Language	English
Type	Thesis
Rights	© 2019 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.