Using Rasch Measurement Theory to Improve the Functioning of an Assessment for Trigonometry

Using Rasch Measurement Theory to Improve the Functioning of an Assessment for Trigonometry

Sarah Bansilal Bansilals@ukzn.ac.za School of Education, University of KwaZulu-Nata
Summary: 
It is important for teachers to be experts in the content that they teach, and it will be helpful for professional development programmes to design suitable and fair assessments for teachers. The purpose of this study was to use Rasch analysis to improve the functioning of the items in an instrument designed to assess the trigonometry knowledge of mathematics teachers. The participants in the study were 168 high school mathematics teachers who were enrolled in an in-service programme. Fourteen items were rescored to resolve the disordered thresholds that they exhibited. The rescoring resulted in an improved fit of the instrument. Furthermore, this cohort of teachers struggled with higher-level trigonometry questions, especially those which required shifts between different registers of representations. It suggests that the Department of Education needs to provide support to teachers by offering workshops which focus on building up their knowledge in trigonometry by also developing their representational fluency in trigonometry.
Keywords: 
Rasch analysis; rescoring; trigonometry; mathematics teacher knowledge
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