I’ve always believed that there’s nothing wrong with a sit down test if the test items assess the core philosophy and values of the subject. Hence, I’ve tried to make an assessment for my Year 7 students (grade 6) which I believe is more meaningful in the 21st century. It’s so easy now to do a quick search on Google to find the formula for anything. Indeed, during a planets investigation today with Grade 9, we simplified the problem of planetary orbits to consider them as circles instead of ellipses – pretty standard. However, one of the students put his hand up a minute later to ask why we weren’t just using one of the many formulae he had found through a Google search for the perimeter of an ellipse. This is great but it means that we need to teach students how to derive formulae and analyse formulae instead of simply using them without thinking. I guess this is similar to when students just pick information from a website without critiquing it – so frustrating and meaningless.
Anyhow, here’s the assessment. Any feedback to improve would be appreciated.
Teaching Mathematics 