DESIGN AND USE OF A FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT TOOLKIT TO DEVELOP PROBLEM-SOLVING COMPETENCY IN MATHEMATICS FOR SECOND-GRADE STUDENTS THROUGH TEACHING THE CONTENT “NUMBER AND OPERATIONS”

Abstract

This study focuses on designing and validating a formative assessment toolkit-including an
observation checklist, analytic rubric, student self-assessment forms, and a system of mathematics tasksto monitor and enhance second-grade students’ mathematical problem-solving competency when learning
the topic “Number and Operations” in accordance with the 2018 General Education Curriculum. A
mixed-methods approach was employed, involving a survey of 14 teachers and 390 students from three
primary schools in Long Xuyên Ward (An Giang), classroom observations of 61 experimental-class
students before and after intervention, and a pedagogical experiment conducted with 122 students (61
in the experimental group and 61 in the control group). The findings indicate significant improvement
among experimental-class students across all four components of problem-solving competency (problem
identification, planning, implementation, and evaluation), with p < 0,05 and Cohen’s d ranging from 0.62
to 0.88. The assessment toolkit demonstrates high feasibility and pedagogical effectiveness, with medium
to large effect sizes.