Mathematics Interpretative Tasks and Formative Assessment: A Digital Device for Teachers Training

The research presented in this paper is framed in the strand of the use of digital technologies in mathematics educational activities. We present the digital device ‘Task Interpretativi – Digital Integrated Model’, which merges the two theoretical frameworks of Interpretative Knowledge and Formative Assessment. We implemented the device in a blended course of Mathematical Laboratory devoted to kindergarten and primary pre-service teachers, attending the Italian single cycle master’s degree in Primary Education. The research purpose is to investigate to what extent the presented device impacts on the assessment attitude of the prospective teachers. To do this, we carried out a qualitative analysis on a case study, looking at the improvement of a selected prospective teacher’s assessment practices along two cycles of the device’s implementation. We studied the effectiveness of our experimental design with respect to the main professional development goals: teacher’s shift of attention from the correctness of the product to the correctness of the process; teacher’s movement from a synthetic binary judgement to a text which comments the productions and possibly helps the actual or potential recipient to overcome difficulties and move forward. Finally we discussed the added value brought by the use of digital technologies in our experimental design.