Evaluation of students' performance in mathematics

Abstract

While planning assessments lecturers should use various methods so that students would be given an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and skills. Many types of assessment strategies can be used to gather such information, including: questioning, formal and informal observations, examinations, tests in virtual environment, etc. Learners' assessment involves communication with lecturers, students, curriculum designers and administrators. It is necessary to choose suitable methods that are feasible in terms of technical possibilities and available resources. The most popular type of evaluating is a summative assessment. This type of assessment is applied at the end of a unit, course or program. The purpose of this type of assessment is to determine whether the overall goal has been achieved or not and to provide information on student's individual performance. It is worthwhile to form an applicable control system for students' learning achievements in mathematics. The lecturers of the Department of Mathematics and Informatics at Aleksandras Stulginskis University have been using various techniques to improve and evaluate the mathematical literacy of students. The fields that need to be regarded for evaluating learning outcomes are the following: perception of the main mathematical concepts, skills of solving typical examples and skills of using mathematical literature etc.