Tests and Prototypes

Description:

Views on the role of tests and are almost as varied as the kind of tests that can be created and used, but in the traditional view of mathematics and testing, most educators and students would see teaching and testing as somewhat of a cycle – the content is taught/explored/discovered, and then the students are tested in order to assess their level of understanding. While there are many ways of assessing outcome achievement other than a pencil and paper examination, tests can be one valid approach to check students’ understanding, usually in a summative way.
Tests can assess many levels of knowledge and may be designed by the teacher, be part of a provided resource, or be produced by a division or other jurisdiction and made available to educators.
Provincial examinations for level 30 maths are written by students to obtain a class credit when the class has been taught by a non-accredited teacher, or when the accredited teacher wishes to have students write the summative provincial exam.

Examples:

A sample released question from Workplace and Apprenticeship Mathematics 30:

Heather created 30 bracelets and 30 necklaces to sell online. Her expenses and revenue are shown in the table below:

	Expense per item	Revenue per item
bracelet	$7.50	$12.50
necklace	$9.50	$18.50

After her first month, she has sold 18 bradelets and 12 necklaces. Is Heatehr above or below the break-even point, and by how much?

A. $27.00 below

B. $63.00 below

C. $198.00 above

D. $420.00 above

Solution:

B. $63.00 below

Expenses	Revenues	Profit = Revenue – Expenses
($7.50 x 30)+($9.50 x 30)	($12.50 x 18) + ($18.50 x 12)	=$447 – $510
=$225 + $285	= $225 + $222	= -$63
= 510	= $447	(She was below by $63)
($510 is needed to break even)

Comments:

Response option C was selected with greater frequency than response option B, suggesting students only calculated expenses for the items that were sold. (Expenses: ($7.50 x 18) + ($9.50 x 12) = $249 Then, $447 – $249 = $298.)