Cuestiones metodológicas en la evaluación de los conocimientos matemáticos de los alumnos y de su evolución

Abstract

In this paper we are interested in the problem of drawing out inferences on students' mathematical knowledge, its structure and evolution, from the observed answers obtained from assessment situations. About this problem we approach the following points from a research perspective: (1) The necessity to accomplish a systemic study, both quantitative and qualitative, of the set of answers given by each subject to the assessment tasks. (2) The possibilities provided by multivariate data analysis for building models of weak causality among the answers and the task, subject and instructional variables. (3) The issues linked to generalizing inferences on knowledge from samples of students and assessment situations. (4) As regard to educational research, we compare the systemic quasi-experimental and the confirmatory experimental paradigms, pointing out to their complementary nature.