The calls to develop an "authentic" assessment system are based on the conviction that counting the number of correct answers to a series of brief questions contradicts current views of mathematics as an intellectual discipline.
Ernest (19911, for example, argues that mathematics cannot be described by a single unique hierarchical structure and that mathematics cannot be represented as a set of discrete knowledge components.
The mathematician William Thurston (19901 uses the metaphor of a tree to describe mathematics: "Mathematics isn't a palm tree, with a single long straight trunk covered with scratchy formulas.
It's a banyan tree, with many interconnected trunks and branches a banyan tree that has grown to the size of a forest, inviting us to climb and explore"p. 71 A valid system for assessment in mathematics must reflect these notions that mathematics is a set of rich, interconnected ideas.
To be in line with current thinking,it must view mathematics as a dynamic, continually expanding Held of human creation, a cultural product (Ernest, 19881.)