Analysation of One-to-One Assessment Task Results

The analysation of the assessment task, begun through a series of questions of where the student had
to count toy bears. The initial set of questions that were asked to the two students are written below,
along with the cues (represented by *) for the interviewer to follow.

• *Place 13 toy bears on the table, all bundled up*

o Question: How many toy bears are there on the table?
• *Re-bundle toy bears*
o Question: Can you count the toy bears starting at this yellow bear?
• *Once they have given an answer point and form a circle with your finger around the whole group
of bears*
o Question: So how many bears are there here in this group?
• *Add 3 toy bears to the bundle, let them see you add the bears*
o Question: How many bears are there now?
• *Re-bundle the bears but DO NOT take any away*
o Question: How many toy bears are there now?
• *Grab a water bottle with water in it*
o Question: Are you able to count how much water is in this water bottle?

After asking the students each set of questions an analysation was conducted of their responses. It was
found that each student consistently did the same actions for each of the questions (excluding the last
question).

The first student that was asked the set of questions, was the student who had a lower understanding
of the counting principles. This student's level of development for the concept of the counting
principles in relation to four step language model, would be the Materials Language stage (refer to
Figure 1 below). When this student answered the different questions, they consistently pointed to each
individual toy bear, moved them into a line once they had been counted, and they said the numbers
out loud, demonstrating some understanding of the concept. This student is not quite at the
Mathematics Language stage for the principles of counting due to them skipping some numbers when
reciting them out loud. This student would consistently miss the number 5. This student required Commented [JC1]: AITSL Standard 1.2: This demonstrates
minimal prompting, they completed each question by doing the same actions as mentioned an understanding of how students learn mathematics in
previously, all by muscle memory. This student did however get the last question correct by alignment with the four-step language model. This language
model has implicated my future teaching for this student as it
answering 'no'. informed me what resources, content and strategies would be
appropriate to further develop the student’s mathematical
The second student that was interviewed to assess their level of understanding of the counting content knowledge.
principles was the student with a higher level of understanding. Aligning the student's understanding
of the concept of the counting principles with the language model, the student would also be at the
Materials Language Stage. Although the higher achieving student is at the materials language stage of
the language model, they are very close to going to the next stage, the mathematics language stage.
Similar to the other student, this student recited the numbers out-loud and pointed to the objects when
counting the toy bears. This student was very confident in their counting ability and was able to
demonstrate it to a high standard as well. This student could easily count beyond 10. The reasoning
for this student not being at the mathematics stage of the language model, is that they would count
some toy bears twice. The explanation for this occurring is that when the student counted the toy
bears, they didn’t move them to the side, or in a line once they had been counted. This resulted in
some incorrect totals when stating the amount of toy bears in the bundle. This student with the higher
understanding of the counting principles, required minimal prompting in the initial interview, they
were able to count each time by memory of what they had been previously taught (for example,
Reciting numbers out loud and pointing to each individual toy bear). The last question that the student
was asked, was in relation to the water-bottle. The student got this question incorrect by trying to
count the water with his fingers up the side of the water-bottle. Due to the student knowing their
numbers to a high standard, pointing to each individual object, knowing that the last bear that was
counted is the total and reciting their numbers out loud, this demonstrates that they are developing
their knowledge and understanding of the counting principles.