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SUMMARY:Measuring conceptual understanding quickly and reliably - Dr Matth
 ew Inglis\, Mathematics Science Centre\, Loughborough University
DTSTART:20151111T170000Z
DTEND:20151111T183000Z
UID:TALK62013@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Ann Waterman
DESCRIPTION:Developing conceptual understanding is a key goal of mathemati
 cs\neducation at all levels. Unfortunately\, compared to procedural\nunder
 standing\, it is much harder to reliably assess.\nMost efforts to measure 
 students’ conceptual understanding involve\nthe time-consuming developme
 nt of a domain-specific concept\ninventory (e.g. Epstein\, 2005) or the us
 e of detailed clinical\ninterviews (e.g. Piaget\, 1959). Both of these met
 hods are highly\ntime-intensive\, either in terms of development work or r
 esearcher\ntime. These costs present a serious barrier to rigorously evalu
 ating\neducational interventions that are designed to improve students’\
 nconceptual understanding.\nIn this talk I discuss an alternative approach
  to assessing conceptual\nunderstanding\, based on Thurstone’s Law of Co
 mparative\nJudgement from the psychophysics literature.\nI will explain th
 e theoretical basis of the approach\, and report a\nnumber of studies wher
 e my colleagues and I have employed it.\nThese studies include assessing c
 hildren’s understanding of\nfractions\, assessing undergraduate students
 ’ understanding of\nstatistics\, and the comparison of high-stakes exami
 nation standards over time.
LOCATION: Faculty of Education\, 184 Hills Road\, Cambridge\, CB2 8PQ\, DM
 B\, Room GS4
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