Hidden bias in standardized tests

Marjolein Muskens has found that educational systems and teaching methods can inadvertently limit the opportunities of certain students. She is interested in students’ hidden talents and shedding light on the unintended obstacles that hinder students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Marjolein tells Annie Brookman-Byrne about her research into the bias found in standardized math tests. 

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The effect of content domain and question format to identify dyscalculia

Developmental Dyscalculia (DD) is characterised by persistent difficulties in learning mathematical skills, which usually becomes apparent in the early years of schooling. Traditionally, DD is known to affect children’s arithmetic processing, whilst other domains of mathematics receive much less research attention. Nevertheless, contemporary diagnostic guidelines suggest that DD is linked to widespread and diverse difficulties, both within and outside of the domain of numbers. This study examined the performance (i.e., accuracy and number of questions attempted) of children on a curriculum-based mathematics assessment, considering the effect of content domains, question format (i.e., multiple-choice questions vs. constructed response questions) and test half. 

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Teaching reasoning strategies to dyscalculic students with low working memory level

Dyscalculic students believe they need to memorize mathematical facts. This is due to their inability to think flexibly and their lack of knowledge about the possibility of performing operations by structuring numbers. So, the aim of this study is to teach dyscalculic students to use reasoning strategies. The study employed an instructional experiment, a research design that enables the investigation of how mental processes evolve in student-friendly learning environments. Six fifth-grade middle school dyscalculic students participated. Before the implementation, we observed that none of the students employed reasoning strategies. Over a six-week period, the application included activities aimed at teaching reasoning strategies for dyscalculic students. The implementation resulted in students’ ability to understand the relationships between numbers in addition and subtraction operations and employ various strategies during these operations. This result suggests that applying appropriate interventions to dyscalculic students can lead to significant progress and the acquisition of reasoning strategies.

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They are not rude, they are neurodivergent

11 Behaviors That Seem Rude But Are Actually Signs Of Neurodivergence, According To Research

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