Sample Assessment Activities
These assessment activities are examples of the kinds of tasks which teachers could devise
for their own assessment programme.
• Students present a report that outlines the occurrence of conic sections, the
features of their graphs, and the transformation of one to another, and
demonstrate a variety of methods of drawing them.
Using this example, teachers could assess students’ ability to:
- describe the nature of conic sections and sketch graphs of them (G8);
- find equations of conic sections from given conditions and find the equations of
tangents and normals to them (G8);
- use and interpret vectors which describe translations (G5);
- describe the relationship between members of families of curves in terms of
transformations (A7);
- effectively plan mathematical exploration (MP8).
• Students find the equation of the tangent and normal to the ellipse:
x2 y2
a2 b2 + = 1
at the point (acos t, bsin t).
Using this example, teachers could assess students’ ability to:
- find equations of conic sections from given conditions and find the equations of
tangents and normals to them (G8);
- choose and apply appropriate differentiation techniques in context (M8);
- generalise mathematical ideas and conjectures (MP8).
• Students use CAD software (or other) to explore designs and geometric properties
of objects in 3 dimensions.
Using this example, teachers could assess students’ ability to:
- describe the nature of conic sections and sketch graphs of them (G8);
- use equipment appropriately when exploring mathematical ideas (MP8);
- classify objects, numbers, and ideas (MP8).
• Students investigate and report on the generation of fractals or Hilbert curves,
using software such as Logo.
Using this example, teachers could assess students’ ability to:
- sketch and describe mathematically curves which occur in the environment (G8);
- effectively plan mathematical exploration (MP8);
- report the results of mathematical investigations concisely and coherently (MP8).