This cannot be the result! The didactic phenomenon ‘the age of the earth’

ABSTRACT

In the frame of national Italian standardized assessments in mathematics, a didactic phenomenon has been observed concerning students’ behaviour when answering an item: students are inclined towards not accepting an output which is not clearly recognizable with something distinct from the starting inputs. The observed effect seems to originate from the teacher-student relationship and could be described as a typical didactic contract situation but it also affects the general relationship between the student and mathematics. Adopting a mixed-method apparatus including large-scale assessments results, questionnaires and interviews, we can describe several behavioural features related to the observed phenomenon. In particular, we show how it is present in different grades and in pupils of different abilities. We consider the ‘ruling principle’ as a connecting concept for the different constructs used here to analyse this phenomenon, i.e. an organizational or normative criterion that shapes the action of the student facing a mathematical task.

KEYWORDS:

• Didactic contract
• coutume didactique
• large scale assessment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 From the official website of the INVALSI:

INVALSI is a research institute with the status of legal entity governed by public law. The Institute carries out periodic and systematic checks on students’ knowledge and skills, and on the overall quality of the educational offering of schools and vocational training institutes, also with a view to lifelong learning; in particular, it runs the National Evaluation System (SNV).

2 Statistical data, graphics and tables describing the behavior of these items (Item Information Curve, Distractor plot, Discrimination index, Weighted MNSQ) are available in the Invalsi Database www.gestinv.it.