www.education.vic.gov.au/studentlearning/teachingresources/maths/assessment.htm
Introducing the Mathematics Online Interview
Background• The Early Numeracy Research Project (ENRP) was
commissioned by the Department of Education, Employment and Training: 1999 – 2001.
• An aim of the ENRP was to challenge teachers to explore their beliefs and understandings about how children develop their understanding of mathematics
• A need was identified for a comprehensive assessment tool for early numeracy.
• The Interview was established on the research framework of significant mathematical points of growth.
What is the Interview?• One-on-one interview away from
the regular classroom
• Mainly hands-on tasks incorporating concrete materials
• Focus is on mental computation
• Responses focus on strategies that the students use … not only the correct answer
• 61 questions and sub-questions
• Questions ranging from Level 1 – 4 (VELS)
• Should take 30 - 40 minutes
Areas assessed by the Interview• Counting• Place value• Strategies for addition & subtraction• Strategies for multiplication & division• Time• Length• Mass• Properties of shape• Visualisation
Example questions from the Interview
This
question is
part of the
Detour
designed
for students
in their first
year of
school.
Example questions from the Interview
This question
(from the
addition &
subtraction
section) focuses
on strategies
used eg. using
doubles, near
doubles and fact
families.
Example questions from the Interview
This question is a
reasonablychallenging
question from
the place value
section.
Example questions from the Interview This
question This question requires
advanced number skills.
This is a question
demonstrating alignment to the Level 4 Standard.
Example questions from the Interview
This question
is one of the
last questions
in the
Interview
from the
visualisation
section.
Why use the Interview?
Assessment FOR learning
• Understand individual students’ needs • Find out how students ‘think’ and ‘feel’ while doing
Mathematical tasks • Gain insight into student thought process in action • Generate detailed profiles showing students
achievement in relation to points of growth• Track student growth over time• Inform planning for focused teaching at the point of
need
Enables students to showcase their skills and understandings due to
individualised pathways through the Interview.
Who is the Interview appropriate for?
• Powerful for all students in Levels 1 – 3 (Prep – Year 4)
• The ‘high ceiling’ provides scope for questions up to Level 4 in some areas
• Potential for use with ‘at risk’ students in Year 5 and beyond.
The learner at the centre
What hasn’t changed? What has changed?
•All questions remain the same•Interview functions the same •Interview looks the same
•Access via Edumail user name and password only•Access through any computer with Internet access•Data stored automatically in one central location•Improved and added profiles, including dated achievement of growth points•Capabilities to track cohorts across school•Different sessions recorded•Administration functions •Mac & PC compatible
Important points
• Firstly, schools must assign a ‘school administrator’
• Check the school’s internet browser functionality to ensure settings are set at a fast speed
• Must create classes first – this is the first admin function listed
• Import function is to import interview records from the old CD-ROM program – you can only do this once
• Remember to select the right session
Read the School User Guide!www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/edulibrary/public/teachlearn/student/mathscontinuum/interviewuserguide.pdf
Aligning the Interview with the Victorian Essential Learning Standards• Points of growth informed the
development of the VELS Mathematics
standards & progression points
• Points of growth will support teachers to
understand and implement the VELS
• Powerful links with the Mathematics
Developmental Continuum indicators of
progress and teaching strategies
0.5
At 0.5, the work of a student progressing towards the Number standard at Level 1 demonstrates, for example: association of number names with numerals
and models of numbers (counting or subitising) use of drawn simple symbols in place of
objects; for example, B for boy ordering of objects and sets; for example,
largest to smallest placement of a variety of objects in order from
first to third use of one-to-one correspondence and
numbers 1 to 10 when counting
Using the Mathematics Online Interview, when a student is successful on:
- Task 1- ‘First year of schooling detour’ Q II - ‘First year of schooling detour’ Q 111 (a),
(b)- ‘First year of schooling detour’ Q 111 (e)
this is indicative of a student having achieved part of this progression point.
1.0
At Level 1, students form small sets of objects from simple descriptions and make simple correspondences between those sets. They count the size of small sets using the numbers 0 to 20. They use one-to-one correspondence to identify when two sets are equal in size and when one set is larger than another. They form collections of sets of equal size. They use ordinal numbers to describe the position of elements in a set from first to tenth. They use materials to model addition and subtraction of subtraction by the aggregation (grouping together) and disaggregation (moving apart) of objects. They add and subtract by counting forward and backward using numbers from 0 to 20.
Using the Mathematics Online Interview, when a student is successful on:
- Task 1 - ‘First year of schooling detour’ Q I- ‘First year of schooling detour’ Q II (f) - Task 2 (a) - Task 2 (e) - Task 8 (b) (c) - Task 18 by counting all - Task 19 by modelling all
this is indicative of a student having achieved part of this Standard.
Using the Interview results to plan your program
• Step 1
It is important that interviewing is conducted by the classroom teacher for the students in their class.
An important part of the interview is the relationship building between student and teacher, and the information that can be gathered by observation.
Using the Interview results to plan your program
• Step 2: Feel confident with the Interview data you have received.
Ask: Is there data that doesn’t fit with your understanding/ perception of the student’s prior knowledge? If so, review the Interview results and consider what might have affected the student’s responses.
Using the Interview results to plan your program
• Step 3:
Use the profiles to reveal the student’s highest point of growth achieved in each area.
• Use ‘student profile’ or ‘group profile’ to group students together who present with similar learning needs.
Example group profile: Number - Place value
• Step 4:
Determine the specific learning focus of the next mathematics session.
Using the previous profile an example learning focus may be ‘Visualising patterns in the Hundreds chart’.
Using the Interview results to plan your program
Using the Interview results to plan your program• Step 5:
Consider the context for the learning experiences and activities (games, materials, resources, calculators etc).
The Mathematics Developmental Continuum can support this selection with some powerful examples of tasks and guidance on effective teaching strategies.
Links with the Mathematics Developmental Continuum P - 10
Links with the Mathematics Developmental Continuum P - 10
• In this Place Value example, the indicator of progress ‘Using a hundreds chart for mental calculation’ offers advice on teaching strategies for developing visualising, as well as a variety of tasks for students with differing needs.
• These have been linked to tasks achieved on the Mathematics Interview that indicate appropriate prerequisite understanding.
Links with the Mathematics Developmental Continuum P - 10Activity 3: Missing numbers
Once students can put a complete chart together, prepare a chart with some numbers missing. Cut the chart into 'jigsaw' pieces. You could use jigsaw pieces with only one number showing for the students to complete the missing numbers. For example what numbers are missing in the boxes shown? Always, students should describe how they obtain answers in terms of adding or subtracting10 (moving vertically) or 1 (moving horizontally).
Building on what students already know and are able to do
Interview influencing classroom planning
• Types of tasks become part of classroom programming and learning experiences for students
• Strategies promoted in the Interview, for example ‘near doubles’ will become powerful in the teaching environment
• Focus on mental computation rather than formal written equations as the only option
• Importance of articulating thinking – this should be valued and shared often
• Use of materials to support students to develop visual images of their thinking – from concrete to abstract over time
Interview influencing professional learning for teachers …
• The Interview results can provide an opportunity to discuss efficient ways to move students forward – best practice.
• For example: Length – how can we more effectively support students to move from ‘using uniform units appropriately to quantify length’ to ‘using formal units for estimating and measuring length, with accuracy’?
• What knowledge do teachers need to plan effective learning experiences around this concept?
Additional Resources• School User Guide (PDF - 3.5Mb) - a comprehensive manual including detailed
instructions of all new functionality.
• Mathematics Online Interview Booklet (PDF - 937Kb) - details each question in the Interview, preparation, how to administer and links with research.
• Teaching strategies linked to the Mathematics Online Interview - 'I have done the Interview, now what …?' This resource links the Mathematics Developmental Continuum teaching strategies with appropriate tasks from the Interview.
• Mathematics Online Interview links with the Victorian Essential Learning Standards - advice for teachers to link the questions from the Mathematics Online Interview to the Victorian Essential Learning Standards for Mathematics, across the five dimensions.
• Mathematics Online Interview - Starting Points - When interviewing a student who has a current interview record, teachers should start at tasks which are suitable to the student’s developmental level based on their performance through the previous interviews.
• Mathematics Online Interview - Observation Notes - These documents will support teachers to target their observations whilst conducting the Interview. It will be particularly helpful for teachers using the Interview for the first time.
