A Study On Cognitive Diagnostic Assessment Of Mathematical Learning Of Grade 8 Students

Educational assessment plays a leading role in the education chain,and is a focus of education researchers and policy makers for a long time.The development and reform of education requires us to master more detailed diagnostic information of students.However,there is a common drawback in the current education evaluation,that is,too much emphasis on the results of evaluation,unable to effectively obtain more diagnostic information of students.As a new assessment theory,cognitive diagnosis integrates the evaluation objectives into the cognitive model,reflects students’ potential cognitive processes through students’ responses to items,which can effectively obtain students’ advantages and deficiencies in fine-grained knowledge and provide a foundation for individualized teaching and adaptive learning.As an international large-scale test,The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study(TIMSS)has a certain foundation for cognitive diagnosis assessment(CDA).In addition,China has not yet participated in the TIMSS test.Therefore,with the cognitive diagnosis assessment as the analysis method,this study selected 4,733 Grade 8 students from Guizhou,Gansu,Guangdong,and Shanghai in China’s mainland as the research objects with TIMSS math test as the research tool to analyze the students’ mathematical achievement performance.The research focuses on two main issues: "How to build the assessment and analysis system for Grade 8 students’ mathematics achievement based on the TIMSS test?" and "How do Grade 8 students in China’s mainland perform in terms of their mastery of mathematics learning attributes,learning paths and learning progression”.Based on the two main research questions,a cognitive model with 24 attributes in three dimensions including basic knowledge,basic skills and cognitive level has been constructed.Using the TIMSS 2015 math test items as the assessment tool,the Q matrix was constructed based on expert calibration.By comparing the parameters of commonly used cognitive diagnosis models DINA,DINO,RRUM,ACDM,LLM,GDINA and Mixed Model,the mixed model was selected as the optimal model for data analysis based on item fit,absolute fit,test reliability,test discrimination,etc.In terms of result analysis,first the situation of mathematics learning attribute of eight grade students in four provinces(municipalities)of China’s mainland is analyzed in detail.On this basis,the differences of each attribute is further analyzed by comparing with Singapore,Japan,South Korea,Chinese Hong Kong,Chinese Taiwan and other East Asian education developed countries or regions with excellent TIMSS scores.Secondly,based on the results of cognitive diagnosis assessment,the three-dimensional learning path and learning progression of students’ mathematics achievement in China’s mainland are constructed.Finally,from the perspective of individualized evaluation of cognitive diagnosis,four cases of the same total score student are analyzed to get the differences in mastery of different attributes,and a detailed diagnosis report is given as well.The results show that:(1)The three-dimensional integration of knowledge,skills and cognition reflects the requirements of TIMSS evaluation and meets the basic indicators of the cognitive diagnosis evaluation;(2)There are differences in the attributes and regions of eighth-grade mathematics learning in China’s mainland,with obvious advantages in the national(regional)comparison,but there is room for improvement in the operational content such as data and measurement;(3)Students with different knowledge states have diversified and regular learning paths and are in different learning progression,and the cognitive order reflected by learning paths and learning stages is different from the logical order of subjects;(4)Students with the same total score have different numbers,kinds and degrees of mastering attributes,different learning paths and are in different learning progressions.Based on the research,suggestions on teaching are given,such as constructing a systematic and refined cognitive diagnosis evaluation,and integrating it into the routine teaching test to collect students’ diagnosis information;Based on the evaluation results of cognitive diagnosis,we can analyze the learning path and learning progression of students,so as to reflect and adjust teaching;Based on the results of cognitive diagnosis evaluation,we can get the detailed diagnosis report of each student and realize students’ personalized learning.This research has conducted TIMSS mathematical tests in China’s mainland with large sample,multi region and East West combination;constructed a comprehensive,multi-angle,and three-dimensional integration of cognitive diagnosis analysis system in mathematical achievement assessment;formed a deep,multi-faceted,a combined group and individual evaluation data reporting method.It has a certain level of innovations in theory and methodology,but limitations still exist in a limited number of samples and insufficient representation,a gap between the cognitive diagnosis theoretical model and the actual test,the necessity of testing the research results in practice.