Despite many calls for including applications as a major goal of teaching mathematics citing a
variety of social, psychological, pedagogical reasons and justifications, assessment lagged behind
in developing appropriate tools to assess situated problem solving (de Lange, 1996). Existing
assessment taxonomies, rubrics, and models are lacking in that they are not embedded in a theory
that adequately explain the complexity of interaction with reality in situated problem solving. We
believe that the action map is an appropriate assessment tool for situated problem solving and at
the same time is embedded in activity theory (Leont’ev, 1981) that stipulates that human behavior
and thinking are inseparable and occur within meaningful contexts as people conduct purposeful
goal-directed activities. The aim of this paper is to describe the action map as an instrument for
assessing situated problem solving and to present evidence in support of its construct and
concurrent validity. The action map is based on activity theory whose conceptual framework is
compatible with situated problem solving. Concurrent validity will studied in relation to an
assessment rubric for problem solving.