INQUIRY PROJECT FINDINGS

REPORT

Stevenson, Daniel Wayne - stedw004

Bachelor of Education Professional Experience 4

Table of Contents
Focus ......................................................................................................................................................2
Justification of teaching behaviour & curriculum area focus.....................................................................2
Context & curriculum area.......................................................................................................................3
Design & data collection techniques ........................................................................................................3
Data results & analysis ............................................................................................................................5
Reflection & Conclusion...........................................................................................................................9
References ............................................................................................................................................ 10
Appendix............................................................................................................................................... 11

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Bachelor of Education Professional Experience 4

Focus
The overall focus of my inquiry is effective and engaging formative assessment within
mathematics. The focus topic question in which was investigated was improving my ability to
embed an engaging formative assessment in mathematics in the classroom. The AITSL standard in
which was the focus throughout this inquiry project was standard five, which focuses on Assessing,
providing and reporting on student learning, with the main focus on standard 5.1 ‘Assess Student
Learning’. Throughout the unit of measurement, I trialed different types of formative assessment
(four in total) in order to see which type was the most successful in student engagement and
student knowledge and finding a type in which gets me as the teacher to gain the most knowledge
about what the students know.

The best way to ensure that the observation techniques were met is to ensure triangulation was
met. Triangulation is when the teacher gets feedback from three sources. The three sources which
were used to gain feedback are self, teacher and feedback from the children. The students were
given a slip with a scale of three faces – a happy face, a neutral face and a sad face. The mentor
teacher took some written notes and I did some reflections on each method.

Justification of teaching behaviour & curriculum area focus

This focus question was decided due to the mathematic assessment done in previous years in which
students were not engaging, and the students’ scores were lower than they should have been, this
could be due to the unengaging style of testing which was conducted. When doing the pre-service
review, I found that I had needed to focus on the assessing, providing feedback and reporting on
student learning in the AITSL standards. All of the five boxes were highlighted, suggesting that over
my previous placements, I would like to further develop in this standard, standard five. In my
previous placements when doing mathematics as a whole class, I found it easy to engage with the
students when teaching the topic and when walking around the classroom asking the students if
they understood the concepts and the summative assessment I was doing for the topics I had taught
were fun and the students didn’t feel like they were being assessed. However, when it came to the
formative assessment, I have that I have been struggling to have a focus on it and keep a record of it.

Formative assessment is crucial in modern day teaching, Groundwater-Smith et al (2015) state that
students are “active, rational learners” (Groundwater-Smith et al, p. 309, 2015), and they go on to
suggest that children are learning all the time and that the assessment should be focused on the

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Bachelor of Education Professional Experience 4

learning itself, not the teaching (Groundwater-Smith et al, p. 309, 2015). In other words,
Groundwater-Smith et al (2015) are suggesting here that students are always learning
subconsciously and that often teachers get caught up in how they are teaching, rather than what
they are teaching. This is the case for myself occasionally when teaching mathematics and using
formative assessment pieces.

Reys et al (2012) also agree that assessment for learning is important and the most crucial type of
assessment within the classroom. Reys et al (2012) state that there are four phases to formative
assessment in mathematics, “planning, gathering, interpreting and using” (Reys et al, pp. 67-68,
2012). After planning a unit, a teacher would then decide to gather the prior knowledge of the
students and what they already know about the topic and would then interpret the data gathered
from the students work. The educator would then use the information that they had gathered to
plan another task or assessment for the students (Reys et al, p. 68, 2012).

Context & curriculum area

The school in which the inquiry project will be undertaken is in the Northern region of
Adelaide and is a category six school. The school consists of just over 500 students, with six
identifying as Indigenous or Torres Strait Islander. The class is a year two class with a
demographic of several cultures with the class having 11 boys and 13 girls. The classroom
has some students who are low academically and need support from the teacher, however
some students are really high academically and they need to be challenged in order to
maximise their learning, therefore creating a wide range of learners in this classroom. The
site has a focus on developing students' social skills, creativity, problem solving, self-
confidence and ability to access and process knowledge. The community around the site is
welcoming and the site itself has been commended on its literacy program. The socio-
economic status around the site is above average.

Design & data collection techniques

Throughout the process of the inquiry project, I looked at four different types of formative
assessment in order to attempt to answer the inquiry question set. The four types of
formative assessment attempted were, Mental Routine, Pop Sticks, Thumbs up and Exit Slip.

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The mental routine can be used both as a formative assessment piece and an introduction
into a lesson. Hefferan (2013) states in her piece about natural maths by Ann Baker and
Johnny Baker that the mental routine “immerses kids in the language” (Hefferan, 2013) and
that by the third day, teacher would need to make it more difficult as the students will pick
up the language easily. Hefferan (2013) also states that the mental routine consists of three
different types of questions, Open – where there can be more than one answer, closed –
where than can be only one answer, and flip questions, which student need to ask the
teacher questions in order to find the answer. Hefferan (2013) also states that the flip
questions need to have a “high degree of adaptive reasoning” (Hefferan, 2013).

According to The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, (n.d.) “The Popsicle stick
approach to student engagement provide a random selection for answers, which means that
the consistent hand-raiser isn’t dominating classroom discussion and evaluation” (The
National Council of Teachers Mathematics, p. 1, n.d.). It has often been used as an
engagement strategy, however can also be used a formative assessment piece as it picks
students out at random and shows me who knows what and if the whole class is as the
same level.

Turville (2007), states that “the teacher poses a key question or asks to gauge their comfort
level with a concept. Students give a thumbs up if they are comfortable, thumbs to the side if
they are neither comfortable nor uncomfortable, and thumbs down if they are confused or
having difficulty” (Turville, p. 111, 2007). The thumbs up formative assessment method is a
quick and engaging way to see how many students understand or are on target and how
many are feeling lost. Turville (2007) states that “it can help for planning” (Turville, p. 111,
2007), in a sense that if the majority of the class is unsure of the task, then the lesson can be
restructured, and more instruction can be given.

The final type of formative assessment method used was an exit slip out of the classroom
and into the playground. Tilston (2007) states that “in this technique, students answer a
question individually or in groups about the lesson (or topic). The answers are given to the
instructor when the class ends as the students’ ticket out of the door” (Tilston, 2007). Tilston
(2007) suggests that this method is a great way to effectively evaluate where the students

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Bachelor of Education Professional Experience 4

are at by the depth of their answers to the question. I used this method after maths and
before fitness, asking a question that is relevant to the topic in maths. For example, in
length, the students had to say a comparative length answer in order to get onto the
playground, i.e. the pencil is shorter than the ruler.

Data results & analysis

The following graph is a collection of student responses to how they felt when they were
using the pop sticks as a form of formative assessment using the scale given to them
(appendix 1)

Pop Sticks
25

20

15

10

0
Happy Neutral Unhappy

Pop Sticks

As evidenced in the graph, the majority of the students felt happy or confident when the
pop sticks were being used, however, some students felt neutral, with one student feeling
unhappy when they were being used. The student who felt unhappy stated that he felt
unhappy “Because sometimes I really need to talk and then I don’t get to talk”. This student
felt as if they would have been able to contribute however, because the pop sticks are
random, he missed out. Those students who felt neutral stated it was because “sometimes
you don’t know what to say”.

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Bachelor of Education Professional Experience 4

My mentor stated that:

“Daniel integrated the use of Pop sticks for choosing students throughout all lessons.
Students responded well to the pop sticks and were keen for him to choose with the pop
sticks. It also stopped students constantly putting up their hand to ask to questions/ask to
hand out worksheets”

From this, my mentor supported the use of Pop sticks in the classroom as the students
responded well to this type of formative assessment.

The following graph is a collection of student responses to how they felt when they were
using the mental routine as a form of formative assessment using the scale given to them
(appendix 1)

Mental Routine
18

16

14

12

10

0
Happy Neutral Unhappy

Mental Routine

From the graph, it was evident that the vast majority of students enjoyed the mental
routine as it was a familiar routine for the students. Some of the data gained from the

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Bachelor of Education Professional Experience 4

students who were neutral or unhappy with it was solely due to some confusion with the
questions being asked during the flip questions in which the students got the wrong answer,
with one student stating that “When I counted wrong I did not know how to get to the
answer”.

My mentor teacher stated that this is a good way to quickly assess a large group of students,
stating that:

“Beginning your Maths lesson with a mental routine allows you to inform your future
teaching and assess their understanding of concepts you have already introduced. Scanning
the room allows you to quickly assess the whole class.”

The following graph is a collection of student responses to how they felt when they were
using the exit slip (playground questions) as a form of formative assessment using the scale
given to them (appendix 1)

Exit Slip
16

14

12

10

0
Happy Neutral

Exit Slip

This got a mixed response from the students and my mentor. The students who understood
the topic and concepts well thrived, however those who did not missed out on fitness for a

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Bachelor of Education Professional Experience 4

period. One student stated that “Because I’m bad at it, and you have to think fast and hard”
with others stating that they do not know what to say and another student stating that “I
don’t really know what to say to the teacher. I don’t get the questions”. This could be due to
the questions appearing unclear or if the student was at the back of the line they could not
have clearly heard the question which was being asked.

My mentor stated that:

A playground entry pass is an effective way to individually assess all students’ knowledge.
Students weren’t making connections between lessons, as they did not use names of
containers from the Sunshine Online book. This form of assessment does not suit all topics
(e.g. works well for skip counting)

The following graph is a collection of student responses to how they felt when they were
using the thumbs up and thumbs down as a form of formative assessment using the scale
given to them (appendix 1).

Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down

20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Happy Face Neutral Face Unhappy Face

Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down

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Bachelor of Education Professional Experience 4

From the graph, it was evident that the vast majority of students appeared to enjoy this
type of formative assessment. However, those that felt neutral stated that they felt peer
pressured into putting their thumbs up as they didn’t want to be isolated in front of their
peers.

My mentor stated that

“I’m not sure that you always got an accurate representation of their understanding. It was
always the same student who had her thumbs down because she wanted the extra teacher
time with you. Other students may have just put their thumb up because everyone else had
their thumb up.”

Reflection & Conclusion

Throughout the inquiry project and trialling various engaging formative assessment pieces, I
discovered that the and least accurate was the thumbs up and thumbs down strategy as
some of the students were simply seeking additional attention or felt peer pressured into
saying they understood in front of a large group of their peers. The least engaging
assessment was the exit slip and it was not suitable for the type of unit I was teaching as it
took too long to get through the class and there was no room for additional support. The
mental routine was engaging and familiar with the students who enjoyed this task as it was
both challenging and engaging. However, the most engaging formative assessment method
and the most accurate was the use of the pop sticks. It enabled the children to “play” along
and want to get picked and made all the students engaged and ensured they were all paying
attention and listening throughout the unit in case they got picked.

Throughout the Inquiry Project data collection phase on placement, I had a significant
opportunity to develop my practice in this field and have learnt about what works in
classroom situations and what does not. in the future I will aim to fully utilise this
information gained and use it to further develop my practice. I believe I have achieved my
topic question of improving my formative assessment in mathematics.

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Bachelor of Education Professional Experience 4

References

Groundwater-Smith, S, Ewing, R & Le, CR 2015, Teaching: challenges & dilemmas, 5th edn, Cengage
Learning Australia, South Melbourne, Victoria.

Hefferan, K 2013, Natural Maths - Ann & Johnny Baker, Natural Maths, 1 October 2018,
<http://westtorrenspartnership.edublogs.org/files/2014/03/Ann-Baker-PD-Notes-2013-
2h11ybj.doc>.

Reys, RE 2012, Helping children learn mathematics, 1st edn, John Wiley and Son Australia, Milton,
Qld.

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, n.d., Some Formative Assessment Classroom
Techniques, The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, viewed 29 September 2018,
<https://www.nctm.org/uploadedFiles/Conferences_and_Professional_Development/Institutes/Gra
des_3-
8_Mathematical_Practices/Mathematics%20Formative%20Assessment%20Techniques.docx.pdf>.

Tilston, D.W. (2007). Teaching strategies for active learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Turville, J 30 April 2007, Differentiating by Student Interest: Practical Lessons and Strategies,
Routledge, New York.

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Appendix
Appendix One
Student Feedback Sheets

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Appendix 2
Mentor Feedback

Supervising Teacher Reflection PIP – Formative Assessment

Pop Sticks

Positive Aspects:

ü Used partner discussion to ensure all students had opportunity to discuss question
ü Engaged all students as they knew pop sticks were random and they needed an answer
ü

Things to improve on:

Ø ‘Secret’ code on pop sticks could help when asking simple/more complex questions (e.g could
help to know when to pick Linkin out of container)
Ø

Final Comments

Daniel integrated the use of Pop sticks for choosing students throughout all lessons. Students responded
well to the pop sticks and were keen for him to choose with the pop sticks. It also stopped students
constantly putting up their hand to ask questions/ask to hand out worksheets.

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Bachelor of Education Professional Experience 4

Supervising Teacher Reflection PIP – Formative Assessment Mental Routine

Positive Aspects:

ü Used closed, open and flip questions to assess students understanding of Area

ü Modelled and encouraged the correct use of vocabulary (the area of my shape is .. blocks)

ü Used partner discussion during Flip Questions to discuss answer

ü Rotated around classroom looking at students mental routine

Things to improve on:

Ø When moving around the classroom, question individual students to clarify their understanding
Ø Ensure that all students are listening to your questions and following along with flip questions.
Ø As this is your fifth time using this mental routine, Introducing new questions/concepts (such as
halves which came up in yesterdays lesson/will be discussed in todays lesson) as this is an
opportunity for you to assess their understanding of this and guide your future teaching.
Ø

Final Comments

Beginning your Maths lesson with a mental routine allows you to inform your future teaching and assess
their understanding of concepts you have already introduced. Scanning the room allows you to quickly
assess the whole class.

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Bachelor of Education Professional Experience 4

Supervising Teacher Reflection PIP – Formative Assessment

Playground Entry Pass

Positive Aspects:

ü Individual form of formative assessment

ü Students waited quietly in line
ü Modelled the correct language and made them repeat the correct vocabulary
ü Students are eager to answer because it allows them access into the playground

Things to improve on:

Ø Some students struggled with examples to use to compare the capacity of two objects. A word
wall in the classroom with examples of objects they can say, or you giving two objects and they
must choose the object that holds the most, may provide more support to students.
Ø When a student made a mistake, you sent her to the back without any suggestions to support
her when her turn came again. When she came to the front again, she said she couldn’t think of
anything. (This is when you supported her; however, she spent the whole waiting time unsure).
Ø Did you take a mental note on who made errors and what their misconception were?
Ø Took over 5 minutes to get through whole class, this is a long time waiting for the students at
the end of the line while the others played. (5 minutes, 20 seconds)

Final Comments

A playground entry pass is an effective way to individually assess all students’ knowledge. This was the
fourth day using this capacity question, so you would have expected a quicker and more accurate
response from students. Students weren’t making connections between lessons, as they did not use
names of containers from the Sunshine Online book. None of your lessons listed different names of
containers/objects that would support them to make the comparison. This form of assessment does not
suit all topics (e.g works well for skip counting).

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Bachelor of Education Professional Experience 4

Supervising Teacher Reflection PIP – Formative Assessment

Thumbs up/Thumbs down
‘Thumbs up if it makes sense, thumbs to the side if you’re not sure, thumbs down if it makes
no sense. Side and thumbs down, stay on the floor.’

Positive Aspects:

ü A quick visual representation of students understanding of task

ü You responded to the students who put their thumbs to the side or down and asked them
to stay on the floor.

Things to improve on:

Ø You asked students to stay on the floor if they didn’t understand (thumbs to the side, thumbs
down) but then needed to organise the activity (hand out containers and organise blocks). This
took time away and you had students who were unsure sitting on the floor for a while.
Ø Could you question someone with their thumb up- ‘what is your understanding?’ so you know
that they are being truthful?

Final Comments

You were asking students to put their thumbs up if they understand, thumbs down if it made no sense.
I’m not sure that you always got an accurate representation of their understanding. It was always the
same student who had her thumbs down because she wanted the extra teacher time with you. Other
students may have just put their thumb up because everyone else had their thumb up.

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