Öğrencilerin Matematik Dersine İlişkin Değerlendirme Tercihleri

Bu araştırma, öğrencilerin matematik dersindeki değerlendirme tercihlerini belirlemek amacıyla yapılmıştarama modelinde betimsel bir çalışmadır. Araştırmanın örneklemini, Çukurova Üniversitesi Bilgisayar ve Öğretim Teknolojileri Bölümü ile Sınıf Öğretmenliği Anabilim Dalı’nda okuyan 677 öğrenci oluşturmuştur. Veri toplama aracıolarak Birenbaum 1994 tarafından geliştirilen ve Türkçe formun dil eşdeğerliği, geçerliği ve güvenirliği Gülbahar & Büyüköztürk 2008 tarafından yapılan “Değerlendirme Tercihleri Ölçeği” kullanılmıştır. Verilerin çözümlenmesinde betimsel istatistikler, bağımsız gruplar t-testi, tek yönlü varyans analizi, Kruskal Wallis ve Mann Whitney-U teknikleri kullanılmıştır. Araştırmanın sonucunda, öğrencilerin değerlendirmeye hazırlık aşamasında bilgi istedikleri ve bilişsel süreçleri ortaya koyacak nitelikte ölçme araçlarınıtercih ettikleri bulgusuna ulaşılmıştır. Buna göre, matematik dersi kapsamında değerlendirme yapılırken öğretim döneminin başında nasıl değerlendirilme yapılacağıkonusunda öğrencilere gerekli yönergelerin verilmesi önerilebilir.

Assessment is carried out in order to determine students’ learning needs Black & William, 1998a, 1998b; Ostrow, 1999 , arrange the effectiveness of the teaching process Chamoso & Caceres, 2008; Heddens & Speer, 2006 and analyse the knowledge and skills that are acquired during this process. Alkan 1999 stated that although assessment and evaluation in all the fields of science have some standards, they might reveal some differences according to the field being investigated. While the changes in mathematics teaching programs started in the 1980s worldwide, the Assessment Standards for School Mathematics of National Council of Teachers of Mathematics NCTM started in the mid 1990s. Parallel to this, alternative assessment and evaluation approaches reflecting the constructivism began to replace traditional assessment and evaluation approaches reflecting the behaviourism as a result of the developments in the fields of education and psychology and it was started to combine education and assessment Webb, 2001 . It is seen that traditional assessment and evaluation approaches in teaching of mathematics are not effective in measuring the individual characteristics and high order cognitive processes of students; they evaluate only a small part of students’ mathematical skills and they are disconnected from the teaching process Bachman, 2002 . In this regard, alternative assessment and evaluation approaches based on constructivism which can overcome the deficiencies of traditional assessment and evaluation approaches have become to the agenda. Krulick, Rudnick & Milou, 2003; Sheffield & Cruikshank, 2000 . In line with the constructivist approach, the standards of “teaching”, “assessment” and “program development” were rearranged and the objectives of learning were defined again. Stiggins, 1999 . In this situation, the roles of teachers and students have changed and not only assessing the learning product but also assessing the learning processes within the classroom environment have become a permanent part of education Mcmillan, 2004; Shepard, 2000 . In addition, the teaching strategies which the teachers use together with alternative assessment and evaluation approaches have changed and as a result of this, high order thinking skills and the activities they do have become more meaningful Kulm, 1993 . Although there are many studies Cavanagh, 2006; Uchiyama, 2005 about assessment especially intended for teachers in the literature, limited studies Ben-Chaim & Zoller, 1997; Birenbaum & Feldman, 1998 intended for students at higher education level draws the attention. In this context, as determining the assessment preferences of students attending tofaculty of education reflect their viewpoints towards teaching, it is very important in increasing the quality of teaching and providing the effectiveness of the program. As explained above, despite the limited studies about determining the assessment preferences of the students at higher education in the related literature, no studies about determining the assessment preferences of undergraduate students in the scope of mathematics course were found. Based on this case, this study was carried out to investigate the assessment preferences of the students at higher education level in the mathematics course. Besides, it was investigated whether or not there is a significant difference between the assessment preferences of the undergraduate studnets and their genders, academic achievements, grade levels and the departments they study. This research was carried out to determine the assessment preferences of students attending to the Department of Computer and Instructional Technology CIT and of Elementary Education EE of Cukurova University in the mathematics course and it is a descriptive survey study. The “Assessment Preferences Inventory API ” which was developed by Birenbaum 1994 and the language equivalance, validity and reliability of which as done Gülbahar and Büyüköztürk 2008 in the Turkish version were used as data collection tools. Cronbach’s Alpha Internal Consistency coefficient of API ranges between .74 and .85. In the research, when the mean of assessment preferences scale on the basis of factors were analysed the highest mean’s X=3.90 being at the sub-factor of preparation for the assessment revealed that the students wanted to get a preliminary information before being assessed and to make the scope of the exam be clearer. This result shows similarities with the results of the studies of Büyüköztürk and Gülbahar 2010 , Carnevale 2006 , Kazu, Eroğlu & Şenol 2010 and Long 2001 . In addition to this, it was seen that the students also preferred the simple/multiple choice multiple-choice, true/false type exams most X=3.46 in terms of item type/operation type. This finding shows parallelism with the studies carried out about assessment Baeten, Dochy & Struyven, 2008; Çakan, 2004; Jennings & Pankhurst, 1999; Miller, 2004, Morgan & Watson 2002; Watering, Gijbels, Dochy & Rijt, 2008; Watt, 2005 & Zeidner, 1987 . In this research, it was obviously seen that the students preferred the alternative assessment and evaluation X=3.36 more than the traditional assessment type X=2.65 according to the assessment types. In line with this, this important finding that was obtained from this research indicates similar results with the studies of Bryant 2001 , Büyüköztürk & Gülbahar 2010 , Cooney, Sanchez & Ice 2001 , Kulm 1993 ; Mertler 1999 , Miller 2004 , Motsoeneng 2005 and Webb 2001 . Zoller et al. revealed that the students preferred studying types which require higher order learning such as analysis, synthesis and evaluation and adopted deep learning approach. Another finding obtained from this research revealed that the students expressed assessment preferences which required critical thinking including cognitive processes X=3.76 . This finding shows parallelism with the suggestions of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics in the USA NCTM 2000 . A significant difference in favour of the female students between the gender factor and “alternative assessment types” and “the student role/responsibility” factors and a significant difference in favour of the male students between the gender factor and “traditional assessment types” factors were found in this research. This finding shows parallelism with the studies of Beller & Gafni 2000 , Birenbaum & Feldman 1998 , Kazu et al. 2010 , Okur & Azar 2011 and Zoller & Ben-Chaim 1989 . It was seen in this research that the students with medium academic success wanted to get preliminary information in advance about the assessment and they wanted simple and multiple-choice assessment type questions to be asked in the tests. This finding also shows integrity with the studies of Struyven et al. and Watering et al. However, Brown & Hirschfeld 2007 , Bryant 2001 and Karaca 2003 reached opposite results in their studies. For example; according to the study of Karaca 2003 , it can be said that the students with high academic success preferred alternative assessment and evaluation types which are harmonious with real life complex, which include forming the information, which expose high order thinking skills and individual differences more. When the assessment preferences of the students were analysed according to their grade levels in this research, it was observed that third and fourth grade students preferred alternative assessment types that are complex and constructivist including cognitive processes in the mathematics course. This result of the research shows parallelism with the studies of Birenbaum & Rosenau 2006 , Gülbahar & Büyüköztürk 2008 and Kazu et al. 2010 . Gülbahar and Büyüköztürk found out in their study that the students preferred alternative assessment and evaluation as they gained experiences in complex and constructivist processes and moved away from the traditional structure as the years passed. In conclusion, when the assessment preferences of the students were analysed according to their departments, it was found out that the students at elementary school department preferred the alternative assessment types which include simple/multiplechoice and complex cognitive processes more than those studying at computer and instructional technology department and the students attending to elementary school department wanted to take charge in this process. This can derive from the fact that students attending to elementary school department learnt the necessary learning-teaching methods in mathematics teaching course and they knew the assessment methods that were implemented in mathematics courses during the teaching practice course different from those studying at computer and instructional technology department. To sum up, it is an outstanding finding in this research that the undergraduate students wanted to get preliminary information in the preparation for the assessment stage and preferred the assessment tolls which could present the cognitive processes as part of mathematics course. Considering the gender, the female students preferred alternative assessment types more and the male students preferred the traditional assessment types more. Furthermore, it is another important finding that, considering the academic success level, the students with medium academic success wanted to get information at the stage of preparation for the assessment and they preferred the simple/multiple-choice examinations more. Considering the grade levels, it was clearly seen that the students attending to elementary school department preferred the factors of “alternative assessment type”, “complex/constructivist item type” and “cognitive processes” more. In line with these results, it can be suggested that the necessary instructions should be provided for the students for assessment in the context of the mathematics course at the beginning of the academic year and the assessment types which bring out the cognitive processes of the students should be used