Assessing understanding in mathematics: steps towards an operative model

Abstract

In recent years significant contributions have been made in the field of the assessment of understanding in mathematics, tackling questions such as how and under what conditions understanding could be assessed and what methods and techniques could be used. Especially relevant among these contributions are the proposals that seek to assess understanding in terms of how mathematical knowledge is represented and what internal connections it involves (Hiebert and Carpenter, 1992; Castro et al., 1997), either by taking into account the way epistemological obstacles are overcome (Sierpinska, 1990, 1994) or in accordance to relationships with pre-established institutional meanings (Godino, 2000).