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In this learning overview are suggested assessment opportunities linked to the assessment focuses within the Assessing Pupils’ Progress (APP) guidelines. As you plan your teaching for this unit, draw on these suggestions and alternative methods to help you to gather evidence of attainment or to identify barriers to progress that will inform your planning to meet the needs of particular groups of children. When you make a periodic assessment of children’s learning, this accumulating evidence will help you to determine the level at which they are working.
To gather evidence related to the three Ma1 assessment focuses (problem solving, reasoning and communicating), it is important to give children space and time to develop their own approaches and strategies throughout the mathematics curriculum as well as through the application of skills across the curriculum.
In this unit the illustrated assessment focuses are:
Children undertake enquiries to answer a question that they are given. The enquiry offers a chance to follow through the data- handling cycle: pose a question and answer it by collecting data, and then organising, representing and interpreting it. Children identify possible answers based on their findings. They suggest a further question to explore and revisit the data-handling cycle by collecting further data.
Possible contexts for the enquiry can be found in science, for example in the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) scheme of work: Unit 4a: Moving and growing; Unit 4d: Solids, liquids and how they can be separated or Unit 4e: Investigating parachutes.
For example, children explore a hypothesis such as: The bigger the object, the faster it falls. They decide what data to collect to find out more. They consolidate their measurement skills and knowledge as they measure heights of the parachute drop-point above the ground, weights of the objects that they attach to the parachutes, sizes of the parachutes (defined by length of the side of the square forming the parachute), lengths of the parachute strings and times of the falls in seconds. Children choose and use appropriate instruments and units to measure and record lengths to the nearest half-centimetre, weights in grams and kilograms to the nearest half-division on the scales, and timings in seconds.
Assessment focus: Ma3, Measures
Look for children who measure lengths in centimetres to the nearest half-unit. As they weigh objects, look for children reading from simple scales with increments of 5 or 10. Look for evidence of those children who are beginning to read scales with larger increments such as 20, 50 or 100 and who make sensible estimates of values between labelled divisions.
Children organise their measurements by tabulating them. They decide how best to do this. They look for patterns in the data that could support or refute the hypothesis. They consider how to represent the data in a bar chart. They report their findings orally and by showing their charts and tables. They develop further hypotheses, such as: The larger the parachute, the longer the teddy takes to fall or Soft objects fall more slowly. Children evaluate these suggestions, in groups, and make decisions about which are suitable to be pursued.
Assessment focus: Ma1, Communicating
Look for evidence of children who can discuss the data they have collected and represented and use what they find to begin to explain their thinking and how it relates to their original hypothesis. Look for children who listen to and evaluate the explanations of others and can suggest future lines of enquiry.
Children plan what data to collect and how to organise it. They appreciate that they need to make careful choices and to use units of measurement consistently. In groups, they identify the measurements to make and share the work among the group members. They respond to questions such as:
What data do we need to collect?
How can we collect the data?
How can we represent the data? Is there more than one way to represent the data? Which way would be best?
What conclusions can we draw about our hypothesis?
Assessment focus: Ma4, Processing and representing data
Look for children who can decide what data to collect to answer a question and make appropriate choices for recording data. Look for children who consider the scale for a bar chart, for example, children who choose a suitable scale so that data involving large numbers can be displayed on one page.
| Objectives Children's learning outcomes are emphasised | Assessment for learning |
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What are you trying to find out? What information are you aiming to collect? How? What do you think the result will be? Why? Why have you chosen to collect that information? What will it tell you? Gulab says that most children in our class walk to school. What data would you suggest that he collects to find out whether he is right? |
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What information will you need to collect to answer your question? How will you collect it? How will you organise your data? How will you display it? What titles have you given your graphs? What labels have you put on the axes? What does this table tell you? Why did you choose a table to show your information? Why is it easy to interpret? Look carefully at one of your tables. How did it help you find out more about the data? |
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What have you found out? Does anything surprise you? Why? What evidence do you have to support your conclusions? What other questions could you ask now that you have finished your enquiry? What would you do differently if you carried out the enquiry again? |
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Estimate the weight of this bag of carrots. And of this tin of soup. Which units would you use to measure the weight of an orange? A centimetres B millilitres C grams D kilograms Which is heavier: 2000 g or 3 kg? Explain how you know. Can you tell me another way to say or write 8 kilograms? What about 500 grams? |
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Here are some apples. What is the total weight of the apples?
Imagine a centimetre tape measure. The first part has been torn off and it starts at 8 centimetres. How can you use it to make a measurement in centimetres? |
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How are you going to collect the data? How will you organise the tasks? What helped you to collect the data efficiently? |
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Diagnostic focus |
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