Abstract:
Recent research has identified multiplicative thinking as a major barrier to students' mathematical progress in the middle years of schooling. New approaches to assessment are needed to inform more targeted teaching and improve student numeracy outcomes at this level. The purpose of this paper is to describe the processes involved in developing a range of rich assessment tasks to evaluate students' multiplicative thinking in Years 4 to 8. Key concepts used as a basis for designing the tasks, as well as the tasks, scoring rubrics, and assessment protocols used to collect data from just under 3500 students will be illustrated, together with sample student responses.