Developing students’ independent skills through the use of assessment for learning strategies: How does this affect engagement?

Thesis

In this study, I aimed to explore how I could implement AFL strategies to enable my Year 8 students to develop their independent learning skills in mathematics and to help them develop significant competent skills that will help them prepare for the next stage of their education. A small-scale practitioner research approach was adopted through which various AFL interventions including self-assessment, peer feedback, peer teaching and group work presentations were implemented. The sample used for this study was a Year 8 top-set class consisting of 30 students. At the beginning of the study, a prequestionnaire was administered to serve as a benchmark for assessing how well the research objectives have been achieved. The research tasks included real-life problems and activities intended to increase students’ engagement and motivation in mathematics. Observation of students’ interactions, field notes, postquestionnaire and semistructured interviews were also utilised in data collection.

The evidences collected suggest that AFL strategies have a strong potential in enhancing the development of students’ independent skills. However, the rate at which these skills were developed was found to vary among individual students and was dependent on a number of factors (such as the type of AFL techniques and tasks implemented). Results from the postquestionnaire also found that 89% of the students agreed that AFL strategies have helped them become more engaged in mathematics lessons. This was found to be enhanced by peer feedback through effective collaborative learning; which aided in shifting power from the teacher to individual students.

Authors: Danso, J

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-4rxjk9akx
• Type of award: MSc
• Level of award: Masters
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Keywords: Assessment; MLT; MLT2017
• Subjects: Education