Quiz Measures and Promotes Learning
in Math
By Vic Odarve
Although
much of the math classroom activity such as lectures and board works is aimed
at helping students acquire and store knowledge, a quiz measures learning as
well as to promote it. Quiz, as a measuring educational tool, enables the
teacher to gage how far the students learn the course topic and if ready for
the next course to be taken up. In addition, a quiz also promotes stronger
learning as students have improved retention of the topic and store it more
securely in their memory. Quiz, therefore, as a part of a classroom routine, is
yardstick on how far are our students learn as well as sort of mechanism in
promoting stronger learning.
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| Quiz in Engineering Mathematics |
Although quiz puts the students under pressure,
it allows the teacher to measure their progress in a particular topic, locking
in learning along the way, and redirecting effort to areas of weakness where
more work and review are needed to achieve proficiency. It also yields hints
for the teachers who the weaker and stronger students are - who requires extra
attention and who needs more of a challenge. In math, it can change the
calculus in time table that is, allowing the teacher a flexible time for
discussion. Without it, teachers cannot evaluate whether the educational goals
and standards of the lessons are being met.
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| Pilgrimage Center at University Campus, Nigeria,Africa |
In
addition to as a measuring tool, quiz promotes stronger learning by encouraging
students to practice their valuable skill of retrieving and using the stored
knowledge. Several studies reveal that much of what we learn is quickly
forgotten, but there is an improved retention of knowledge after taking a quiz.
Studies
further show that quiz serves students best when they are incorporated into the
regular classroom classes. This takes into account, among other matters, the
students to overcome anxiety when getting up for and taking government
standardized exams or practice long examinations such as close of semester
examinations. By putting into practice the
accessing or applying the stored knowledge, the students build mastery of the
course.
Although
this requires an ample time for the teachers to deal out and marking the
scripts, quiz measures and encourages effective learning at all grade levels in
math. So, the quiz is not just a tool to quantify and measure how effective the
teaching method is, but also promotes students learning in Math.
