Monday, February 2, 2009

TG 02 - Adeline, Azlin, Benazir, Shaw Ping

An example of a journal entry in the Portfolio




What is Alternative Assessment?
According to Hancock, alternative assessment is an ongoing process involving the student and teacher in making judgements about the students’ progress using non-conventional strategies. It differs from traditional assessment where conventional strategies like students selecting a response from a given list, such as multiple-choice, short answer or true/false questions. Instead it involves assessment in which students create a response to a question or task.

Examples of alternative assessments include:
· Essays or mathematics journal writing. (E.g.: Writing to explain to their peers how to derive at the answer or teach a concept)
· Oral presentations
· Demonstrations
· Practical Skills
· Exhibitions
· Portfolios
· Etc…

Features of Alternative assessment:

The assessments are usually based on authentic tasks where students can relate to and demonstrate their ability to accomplish the learning goals.
Teachers and students focuses on the discussion that is taking place, not on right and wrong answers, hence giving students opportunity to participate actively in their learning process.
Students will take ownership of their learning and set criteria for successful completion tasks.
Students’ meta-cognition skills would be developed as they have opportunities to assess themselves as well as their peers.

Portfolio Assessment

An alternative assessment our group will be sharing is on Portfolio Assessment. Portfolio Assessment provides avenue for creating environments for students to reason, communicate, and problem solve. Teacher would be able to observe and monitor how students are developing these mathematical skills in their lessons and how much they are actually learning. This can be done because a Mathematics Portfolio would include

Problems posed by students which are being discussed as a class including the solution the problem posed.
· Draft, revised, and final versions of student work on a complex mathematical problem.
· A photo or sketch made by student of student's work with manipulatives.
· Papers that show the student's correction of errors or misconceptions.
· A summary of the description by the teacher of a student activity that displayed understanding of a mathematical concept.
· Mathematical journals
· Diagram representations of certain concepts

Benefits of Portfolio Assessment

With the inclusion of the above in a students’ portfolio, learning Mathematics makes more sense as students would be able to make clear linkages between the activities and work they did and its relevance for future references.


The portfolio also creates more opportunities for learning to take place as there are concrete evidences to be used as a basis of a class discussion. Teacher would be able to model good examples and clear misconceptions through the compiled pieces in the portfolio.

The portfolio also includes journal entries which provide opportunity for students to check for misconceptions and make use of the visual diagrams drawn to further understand a concept. It also explicitly defines the objective of a lesson which enables students to check whether they have learnt and understood the concept.

In conclusion, Portfolio Assessment provides a platform for students to recognize their strengths and weaknesses and thus, providing more opportunities for them to learn from their mistakes and misconceptions. It is also helpful for the Mathematics teacher in monitoring the students’ progress and understanding of the mathematical concepts taught. Teacher would be able to provide more focused and direct assistance in the areas where students are weak in. these are certain things which the traditional assessment is lacking in and thus, portfolio assessment plays a significant role in mathematics teaching and learning.

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