In recent decades, technology has influenced various aspects of assessment in mathematics education: (1) supporting the assessment of higher-order thinking skills in mathematics, (2) representing authentic problems from the world around us to use and apply mathematical knowledge and skills, and (3) making the delivery of tests and the analysis of results through psychometric analysis more sophisticated. We argue that these developments are not pushing mathematics education in the same direction, however, which creates tensions. Mathematics education—so essential for educating young people to be creative and problem solving agents in the twenty-first century—is at risk of focusing too much on assessment of lower order goals, such as the reproduction of procedural, calculation based, knowledge and skills. While there is an availability of an increasing amount of sophisticated technology, the related advances in measurement, creation and delivery of automated assessments of mathematics are however being based on sequences of atomised test items. In this article several aspects of the use of technology in the assessment of mathematics education are exemplified and discussed, including in relation to the aforementioned tension. A way forward is suggested by the introduction of a framework for the categorisation of mathematical problem situations with an increasing sophistication of representing the problem situation using various aspects of technology. The framework could be used to reflect on and discuss mathematical assessment tasks, especially in relation to twenty-first century skills.
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This paper is a summary paper of the Thematic Working Group (TWG) on Adult Mathematics Education (AME). As the only thematic working group that focuses on adults’ lived experiences of mathematics, the research makes an important contribution to the field of Mathematics Education. The main themes in this group identify that adult numerical behaviour goes beyond the mathematics skills, knowledge, and procedures taught in formal education It is multifaceted, requiring the use of higher order skills of analysis and judgement, applied within a broad array of life’s contexts, experienced through a range of emotions. The research in this group points to the need to raise the profile of research that shows the benefits to adults of learning mathematics but also the long term economic disbenefits in the neglect of teaching and teacher training for this group.
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Mathematics teacher educators in primary teacher education need expert knowledge and skills in teaching in primary school, in subject matter and research. Most starting mathematics teacher educators possess only part of this knowledge and skills. A professional development trajectory for this group is developed and tested, where a design based research is used to evaluate the design. This paper describes the professional development trajectory and design. We conclude that the professional development design should focus on mathematical knowledge for teaching, should refer to both teacher education and primary education, should offer opportunities for cooperative learning, and need to use practice based research as a developmental tool.
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