The Feasibility of Including Topic-Personalized Mathematics Word Problems on Assessments

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 35
  In Roundtable Session: Assessment Design and Scale Development

Abstract

This study explored the feasibility of incorporating topic-personalized word problems (TPWPs) on middle school mathematics assessments whereby the context of a word problem was customized to students’ self-selected interests (i.e., sports; movies, music, and television; animals; travel; and science and technology). Using a within-subjects research design, 334 rising eighth-graders answered approximately 6,500 word problems – half of which were TPWPs and half of which were generic word problems – in the context of a free, online summer mathematics skills retention program for students. Research questions focused on whether students found TPWPs more interesting than generic word problems, whether students performed better on TPWPS, and whether TPWPs across different interest categories had similar psychometric characteristics.

Author

• Audra Kosh, MetaMetrics, Inc.