Student Perception of Usefulness of Web-Based Dynamic Assessments in Algebra II Developed in PowerPoint
Open Access
- Author:
- Hannan, Nicholas Patrick
- Area of Honors:
- Secondary Education
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Dr. Rose Mary Zbiek, Thesis Supervisor
Dr. Rose Mary Zbiek, Thesis Honors Advisor
Mary Kathleen Heid, Faculty Reader - Keywords:
- dynamic assessment
mathematics education
secondary education - Abstract:
- Dynamic assessment is founded on zone of proximal development research from Vygotsky (1978) and later zone of proximal development researchers. The graduated prompts system of dynamic assessment is consistent with the ideas of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Assessment Principle (NCTM, 2000), the problem-solving principles established by Hiebert and Wearne (2003), and the strands of mathematical proficiency established in a book edited by Kilpatrick, Swafford, and Findell (2001). Researchers such as Wang (2011), Hauk and Segalla (2005), and Butler and Zerr (2005) have attempted to implement web-based dynamic assessment in college classrooms and high school classrooms with various levels of success. Their research involved assessments using software such as WeBWorK, WebAssign, Blackboard, The Cognitive Tutor software, and software authored by Wang. Since a school must purchase the aforementioned software before any teacher in the school can use it, a teacher whose school has not purchased such software does not have access to such potentially effective methods. This study determines student perception of usefulness of a web-based dynamic assessment created in Microsoft PowerPoint that any teacher familiar with PowerPoint could create. I created five web-based dynamic assessments in PowerPoint and assigned them to my Algebra II students during my student teaching experience. After assigning all five, I issued two anonymous surveys about student perception of the usefulness of the dynamic assessments. Data from the surveys indicate students perceived the dynamic assessments to be useful.