It is very important, since the focus is about math education. This project will be difficult otherwise This is from my proposal Title: An investigation to determine whether the CSEC mathematics examination helps to promote the goals of the Trinidad and Tobago form 4/5 curriculum Introduction/purpose The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) is an examination body that was formed in 1972 by 16 Caribbean countries which includes Trinidad and Tobago. Its function is to regulate and conduct examinations as well as award certificates and Diplomas to candidates from these 16 Caribbean countries. Under CXC, the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) subjects are examined for certification at General and Technical Proficiencies. These subjects are typically examined when candidates are 16 years old and at the end of form 5 or equivalently in year 11 in the United Kingdom. This CSEC examination is similar to the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) academic qualification in the United Kingdom. It replaced the General Certificate of Education (GCE) examinations previously used by Trinidad and Tobago in 1979. Grades I.,II and III are recognised as equivalent to GCE OLevel A, B and C grades (Caribbean Examination Council, n.d.) Around the world, mathematics is a highly valued subject and in many educational systems it occupies a privileged position as a compulsory subject. (Smith and Morgan 2016) The country of Trinidad and Tobago is no exception as Mathematics is a compulsory for all secondary school students. At the age of 16, all students must write the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) Mathematics examination. In mathematics education research, there are two types of knowledge researchers commonly refer to, procedural knowledge and conceptual knowledge. Recently, improving conceptual understanding has become one the main goals of mathematics education ( NCTM 2000; Ofsted 2008). Conceptual knowledge refers to the understanding of principles and concepts and procedural knowledge relates to following algorithms and mathematical fluency (Bisson, Gilmore et al. 2016). However, while procedural knowledge is important, as the needs of society changed it is no longer the focus of mathematics education in Trinidad and Tobago (Education M. O., 2009). The CSEC curriculum states For many, learning Mathematics was conceptualized narrowly as recalling facts and procedures that, in many instances, had no relevance to the real world and served little purpose beyond examinations and certification. The approach to learning mathematics taken in this curriculum should bring many benefits to the individual and to the society as a whole. In addition to conceptual understanding, the curriculum also places a strong emphasis on the importance of learning to apply mathematics to real life situations. It states that The curriculum focus is on doing mathematics, as far as possible, in real life contexts Given that mathematics is compulsory and these are the two main goals of the national curriculum, it is important to find out whether these goals are being met. Assessment, in particular high stakes assessment has the power to affect the goals of the curriculum either positively or negatively (Hughes 1989). According to a report from the Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education (2005) The present importance of external examination results to schools and colleges often means that teaching becomes unduly directed towards results, rather than towards students gaining a deeper and wider understanding of the subject. As a mathematics teacher I have noticed that the majority of students are focused on how to pass the test rather than acquiring a deeper understanding of the subject. This would not be a problem if passing the test meant obtaining a sound understanding of the subject, but this may not be the case. Alderson (1986) argues exams can promote the goal and direct instruction and learning in a positive direction which begs the question, is this the case for CSEC mathematics in Trinidad and Tobago or not? As a result, an investigation needs to be done to determine whether the assessment we currently use is driving us towards our goals or if adjustments should be made to the examination to better reflect the goals of the curriculum. To find out whether the CSEC Mathematics examination is promoting the two goals emphasised in the curriculum, conceptual understanding and the ability to apply mathematics to real life applications, this paper will examine each goal separately since it is possible for the exam to promote one and not the other. This will form the basis for the two main research questions Aim This project aims to investigate whether the high stakes Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC) mathematics exam is promoting the goals outlined in the form 4 and 5 national curriculum. To investigate this question this project will look at each goal individually to find out if the exam promotes both, just one or none of these curriculum goals Research questions 1. Does the exam promote the conceptual understanding of mathematics? a) What percentage of the CSEC exam assesses conceptual understanding? b) Are students able to correctly answer exam questions without understanding the underlying concepts c) Do individuals feel they have achieved conceptual understanding after has preparing for and successfully passing this exam 2. Does the exam promote the students ability to apply mathematical concepts to real life applications? a) What percentage of the CSEC exam assesses the students ability to apply knowledge to real world problems? b) Do individuals believe that after preparing for and successfully passing the exam they have the ability to apply the mathematics they learnt in their life Research Design To answer these questions there are three interconnecting components that must be examined. These are: 1). the content of the examination itself, 2). preparing for the exam and 3). What it means to pass the exam . A mixed methods approach will be utilized to ensure a complete picture is drawn since this cannot be adequately represented by an exclusively quantitative or qualitative approach. A quantitative approach will be used in the first two components of the research but for one to understand whether the two main goals of the curriculum were indeed met after successfully completing the CSEC examination a deeper approach is required. This is why a qualitative aspect was added to the methodology in the form of open-ended questions in the questionnaire. Understanding the impact passing the exam had on individuals is a complex question that require more explanations and depth from the participants responses that only a qualitative approach can sufficiently capture I never did a literature review before so let me know if this makes sense for my topic For the lit rev I was thinking we need to talk about (the number refer to useful literature I found listed at the end) Literature on washback (positive and negative) especially in terms of high stakes exams, relate to maths(teaching to the test, learning for the test, a test can influence what is taught, HOW it is taught, what is learned, How it is learned narrowing curriculum etc) 4, 16, 22, 8 Then in particular the literature on maths exams (what content and skills we want to test/learn) 18 So Something to the effect of Talking about arguments for washback especially for high stakes exams.(relevant literature) Then we say, if washback exists then what an exam contains can strongly influence the outcome or goals of the curriculum(relevant literature). The goals for learning mathematics in Trinidad and Tobago are acquiring conceptual understanding and the ability to apply mathematics to real world situations How these goals are represented and assessed in the exam directs instruction and focus towards particular knowledge and skills. In general, It can be argued that conceptual understanding in mathematics is not properly assessed in exam papers as they tend to focus more on procedures and recalling facts -connect to marking exams and validity and reliability (relevant literature, check out paper 18 from the list below, 2 chap 13 and 16, 4, 9, 7) Also the percentage of authentic questions testing applying mathematics in real life contexts may not be adequate if exam papers focus more on pure maths 6,9,12,2 If the goals of our curriculum are to promote .then our exam must be aligned with these goals to direct learning and instruction towards them. We need to find out, what the exam contains, what students are learning and does preparing for and passing the exam mean these goals are met. Important points to organise and mention that I will refer back to in my discussion, which I will probably need you help in later are (the numbers are to refer to the article below) 1. Valuing what is important today in terms of mathematics education (goals of curriculum), societal needs have changed, what is being tested, is it fit for purpose 19, 2 chap 13 and chap 16, 7 2. Old tests are not aligned with new standards 19, 7 3. Students can pass an exam without acquiring important skills and knowledge needed (1 Uwi report, 2 Debates book chapter 16) 4. Washback (teaching to the test/ learning for the test/even the form of the question 24,22, 8,16 5. Real life questions are sometimes artificial 6,9 6. Not all questions are capable of having a real life context 6,9 7. People cant apply the mathematics they learnt in school on the job, in university or in the streets, 12, 25, 2 8. Students cannot see the connections to maths and their life, it seem abstract and just about rules and procedures 12, 1, 25 9. Validity and reliability 6,18, 23 chapt 10 10. Test driven culture and drilling past papers (article 1) 11. Article 26 I am using in my method as a tool to analyse the past papers, I dont know if I have to mention it in my lit rev Do we need to talk about reliability and validity in this section? List of very useful articles to mention in the lit rev ( there are also useful dissertations in the list, esp number 6 for the real life sections, number 7 for conceptual understanding and number 12 for washback, dont reference the dissertations, we can use the references from it instead, there are also books in the list as well and I mentioned some chapters to definitely use from them and we can use references from the books as well, I sent these articles below and a couple others but some you might need to open to see the proper names ) 1. Uwi report (this one is relevant to my context) 2. Debates book chap13, 15 and 16 3. Mathematics Teachers Instructional Practices in an Era of High-Stakes Testing Kenneth E. Vogler Megan Burton 4. Does Test Preparation Mean Low-Quality Instruction? David Blazar1 and Cynthia Pollard2 5. The Impact of High Stakes Testing On Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning 6. The Use of Real-World Contextual Framing in UK University Entrance Level Mathematics Examinations 7. Identifying Appropriate Measures in Mathematics Assessment: Linking Curriculum with Assessment 8. The Distortion of Teaching and Testing: High-Stakes Testing and Instruction Author(s): George F. Madaus 9. Curricular Orientations to Real-World Contexts in Mathematics Cathy Smith and Candia Morgan 10. Analyzing Mathematics High School State Examinations in Albania in the 1970s and 2006-2015: Two Decades, Two Historical Periods 11. Linking CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING IN TEACHING WITH LEARNING 5TH GRADE MATHEMATICS 12. Mathematics in the streets and in schools Terezinha Nunes Carraher; David William Carraher and Analucia Dias Schliemann 13. Test duress 14. Learning to Take Tests or Learning for Understanding? Teachers Beliefs about Test-Based Accountability 15. Investigating changes in high-stakes mathematics examinations: a discursive approach 16. The impact of high-stakes exams on teachers and students: a washback study of the university entrance exam at the secondary school level in south korea 17. Nctms vision of mathematics Assessment in the secondary school: 18. Measuring conceptual understanding using Comparative judgement 19. Assessment in 1419 Mathematics 20. Dissertation assessing creative problem solving ability in mathematics: Revising the scoring system of the discover mathematics assessment 21. A study of the alignment of learning targets and assessment to generic skills in the new senior secondary mathematics curriculum in Hong Kong 22. The Effects of Important Tests on Students: Implications for a National Examination System 23. Curriculum and Assessment chapter 10 24. All articles by madaus are useful for washback 25. Proportional reasoning nurses 26. Conceptual Understanding Weighting System: a targeted assessment tool
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