GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 1

RUNNING HEAD: GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS

Exploring the Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching Geometry and Measurement through the Design and Use of Rich Assessment Tasks Michael D. Steele Michigan State University

Accepted for publication in Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education

DRAFT DO NOT CITE OR REPRODUCE WITHOUT AUTHORS PERMISSION

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 2 Abstract While recent national and international assessments have shown mathematical progress being made by US students, little to no gains are evident in the areas of geometry and measurement. These reports also suggest that practicing teachers have traditionally had few opportunities to engage in content learning around topics in geometry and measurement. This article describes a set of assessment tasks designed to measure teachers mathematical knowledge for teaching geometry and measurement in a nuanced way. The tasks, focused on relationships between measurable quantities of figures, adhere to three key design principles: Tasks are grounded in the context of teaching, measure common and specialized content knowledge, and capture nuanced performance beyond correct and incorrect answers. Six tasks are presented that reflect these design principles, with teacher data illustrating the ways in which the tasks differentiate performance and reveal important aspects of teacher knowledge.

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 3

Understanding the nature and nuance of students mathematical performance has been a key goal of national and international comparative studies over the past two decades (e.g., Gonzalez et al., 2004; Kloosterman, 2007; Provasnik, Gonzales, & Miller, 2009). In studies which break down performance into content strands, two content areas consistently lag in performance: geometry and measurement (National Center for Education Statistics, 2012), and this performance gap is particularly visible in the United States. Standards documents have highlighted geometry and measurement as as vital to positioning students well to enter the workplace and science, technology, mathematics and engineering fields (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2010). Three reasons for poor performance in geometry and measurement have been posited in the research literature: 1) weak treatment in K-12 curricula, 2) challenges with the implementation of geometry and measurement in the classroom, and 3) limited teacher knowledge related to geometry and measurement (e.g., Clements, 1999; Lehrer, 2003, Strom, Kemeny, Lehrer, & Forman, 2001). Of these three areas, investigations of teacher knowledge related to geometry and measurement have been nearly nonexistent in the research literature. This study draws on the current body of research related to teachers mathematical knowledge in designing a set of tools to assess teacher knowledge related to geometry and measurement. These tasks as a set posit a particular way of thinking about teaching geometry and measurement that rests on a broad and well-connected knowledge base, using the construct of mathematical knowledge for teaching. Over the past decade, scholars argued that teaching in ways that support meaningful student learning involves a number of identifiable and differentiable knowledge bases,

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 4 collectively referred to as mathematical knowledge for teaching (Ball, Thames, & Phelps, 2008). Mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) includes knowledge that resides at the intersection of pedagogy and content, incorporating what scholars have referred to as pedagogical content knowledge as well as subject-matter knowledge. Ball, Thames, and Phelps (2008) differentiate between two particular aspects of subject-matter knowledge: common content knowledge, the ability to solve a mathematics problem that any educated user of mathematics might need; and specialized content knowledge, the mathematical knowledge unique to the work of teaching. Common content knowledge (CCK) is not specific to teaching, and consists of the body of knowledge that any well-educated adult might need and use; or put another way, the knowledge that a teacher might hope to instill in his or her students. Specialized content knowledge (SCK) refers to knowledge that is inherently mathematical in nature, but unique to the work of teaching. This knowledge base includes methods of presenting mathematical ideas, identifying the mathematics contained in an instructional task, knowing and making sense of alternative methods to solve a mathematical task, and being able to anticipate different ways to think about the mathematics, including common misconceptions. SCK is an important construct for two reasons. First, findings from studies of teacher knowledge at the elementary level find that CCK and SCK are differentiable constructs, and that higher levels of SCK correlate with stronger student learning outcomes (Ball & Hill, 2008; Hill et al., 2008; Hill, Rowan, & Ball, 2005). Moreover, SCK tends to be underdeveloped in teachers (Hill, Rowan, & Ball, 2005), and few specific learning experiences exist to develop specialized content knowledge in teacher preparation and professional development. Developing robust measures of SCK has been an important thrust of the current research agenda around

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 5 mathematical knowledge for teaching; however, the majority of work in conceptualizing and measuring SCK has taken place at the elementary level. Few studies have focused specifically on secondary mathematics teachers mathematical knowledge for teaching, with geometry and measurement almost entirely unexplored (see Swafford, Jones, & Thornton, 1997 for a notable exception). There has recently been questions about the nature and differentiability of CCK and SCK in secondary mathematics teachers, whom unlike most elementary certified teachers have a mathematics major or significant mathematical training (Speer & King, 2009). Given the urgent need to improve student performance in geometry and measurement and the role of teacher knowledge in supporting or inhibiting that performance, there has been a recent push to develop professional learning materials for teachers that support the development of a richer understanding of geometry and measurement (Driscoll, DiMatteo, Nikula, & Egan, 2007; Driscoll & Seago, 2009). An important component of these development efforts is the ability to measure changes in teachers CCK and SCK related to geometry. In this article, I describe the development of a series of tasks designed to investigate and measure teachers mathematical knowledge for teaching geometry and measurement, with a specific focus on CCK and SCK. In the sections that follow, I use the CCK and SCK constructs to describe an important aspect of MKT related to geometry and measurement: the relationships between length, perimeter, and area. I then describe a set of tasks designed to measure teacher knowledge of this content, focusing on the design features of the tasks. In doing so, the ways in which the tasks differentiate student performance are illustrated using data from an administration of these tasks at the start of a course for secondary teachers focused on building content knowledge for teaching geometry and measurement. To begin, I examine the nature of geometry and

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 6 measurement for students in the middle grades as a springboard for discussing the mathematical knowledge teachers might need to support students learning. A Slice of Geometry and Measurement: Relationships between Length, Perimeter, and Area Measurable attributes of geometric figures length1, perimeter, and area; and length, surface area, and volume are keystones of the measurement strand of school mathematics in the elementary grades. Elementary students (grades K-5) learn how to find length, perimeter, and area of one- and two-dimensional shapes, first working empirically, then progressing to the use of a formula (Common Core State Standards, 2010; Kasten & Newton, in press; NCTM, 2000). Work in the middle grades (grades 6-8) should link these empirical measurement and formula experiences to geometric properties of shapes in order to develop understandings of the relationships between these measurable attributes. This move sets the stage for work with generalized figures and theorems related to congruence and similarity in high school geometry, typically taken in grade 10 in the United States. Tasks in the middle grades should prompt students to consider questions such as: what happens to the area of a rectangle if one doubles the height? What happens to its perimeter? Are the results the same if we consider a triangle? A trapezoid? A parallelogram? What properties of a shape are variant when perimeter or area changes, and what properties are invariant? How is this variation linked to general formulas and algorithms for determining these measurable quantities? What are the characteristics of these shapes that make these relationships generalizable? In general, middle grades students are successful in determining the perimeter and area of common polygons given length measures (Blume, Galindo, & Wolcott, 2007), and it is
1

In this work, I use the term length to denote one-dimensional measurable attributes of two- and three-dimensional figures. This might include the sides or edges of polygons or polyhedra or non-side distances such as the height of a non-rectangular parallelogram or an oblique prism.

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 7 reasonable to expect secondary mathematics teachers to be similarly adept. More problematic is the move to articulating the more general relationships between measurable quantities such as length, perimeter, and area. Most tasks involving measurable quantities on the 2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress (an assessment administered to a nationally-representative sample of US students) did not show significant student performance gains (Blume, Galindo, & Wolcott, 2007), echoing the results of previous research (e.g., Bright & Hoeffner, 1993; Chappell & Thompson, 1999; Clements & Battista, 1989; Hoffer, 1983; Martin & Strutchens, 2000; Sarama, Clements, Swaminathan, McMillen, & Gmez, 2003). Performance difficulties were characterized by confusion between formulas for perimeter and area and suggested that students did not have a conceptual understanding that allowed them to untangle the confusion. This difficulty in distinguishing between area and perimeter suggests that the concepts are not well connected to properties of the shapes in question. Whether this same confusion is prevalent in secondary mathematics teachers is an open question. Early studies of secondary teachers suggest that their conception of geometry was similar to that of typical middle school students (Hershkowitz & Vinner, 1984; Mayberry, 1983). However, more recent work has suggested that interventions focused on developing teachers subject-matter knowledge related to geometry and measurement can positively impact both teacher knowledge and the quality of tasks they enact with secondary students (Swafford, Jones, & Thornton, 1997). While the Swafford, Jones, & Thornton (1997) study showed significant changes in teachers subject-matter knowledge, the authors note that the assessments used to measure teacher knowledge had limitations (limited content and form, ceiling effects), suggesting a more fine-grained set of assessment tasks might yield more nuanced information about teacher knowledge of geometry and measurement.

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 8 Designing Tasks that Measure Teacher Knowledge of Length, Perimeter, and Area Early efforts to measure teacher knowledge focused on two primary vectors: teacher certification and teacher course-taking. Studies of certification have shown inconclusive and sometimes conflicting results, exacerbated by the issue of generalizing across unique state-based certification requirements and assessments (Ball & Hill, 2008). Mathematics course-taking studies also showed slightly more consistent results while adding several complications; namely, that the taking of a course does not directly measure what teachers may have learned from the course, and that content may have little or no bearing on the content teachers are teaching (Ball & Hill, 2008). Direct assessments that measure content that teachers teach are much more promising; large-scale multiple choice assessments of this style have been used to differentiate CCK and SCK and to link teacher knowledge to student achievement (Hill, Rowan, & Ball, 2005). Two issues arise with these large-scale multiple choice measures. First, they provide little detail on the teachers thinking in arriving at their solution. Second, they do not necessarily measure the interactions between common and specialized content knowledge. For example, the failure to decide which of two formulas for the volume of a rectangular prism would be most appropriate for a particular mathematical task might indicate that a teacher does not necessarily see the difference in the two formulas (implicating SCK), or that the teacher has a flawed conception of how one or both of the formulas calculates volume (implicating CCK). In order to address some of the limitations of previous work developing CCK and SCK instruments, the tasks designed for this study had to fulfill three core design principles, listed here and elaborated below: Tasks are grounded in the context of teaching

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 9 Tasks, as a set, measure aspects of and relationships between common and specialized content knowledge related to geometry and measurement Tasks capture nuances of teacher knowledge beyond correct and incorrect answers, including specific misconceptions and the identification of vectors for change Context of teaching. Teacher learning experiences that have the potential to transform teachers knowledge and practices are most effective when they are grounded in the work and context of teaching (Ball & Cohen, 1999; Thompson & Zeuli, 1999). This same premise holds true for assessing teacher knowledge tasks in which teachers are asked to explore authentic mathematical tasks that students would do, consider issues of lesson planning, and analyze student work are more likely to measure knowledge that can be and is used in teaching practice. Measuring CCK and SCK. The second principle stipulates that tasks individually must measure specific aspects of subject-matter knowledge. That is, each task should illuminate aspects of teachers understandings related to the content, not necessarily related to issues of pedagogy or more content-general teaching skills. In addition, the tasks as a set should measure both common and specialized content knowledge related to geometry and measurement. This aspect of the principle is important for articulating the relationships between CCK and SCK; if an assessment item reveals issues with teachers specialized content knowledge, these deficiencies may relate to the underlying common content knowledge. Capturing nuanced performance. Finally, tasks should provide rich, nuanced data on teacher knowledge that provide insight into ways that teachers are making sense of the content as well as possible vectors for change in teacher knowledge. A key aspect of mathematical knowledge for teaching across content areas is the ability to produce multiple representations of

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 10 a mathematical idea, make connections between those representations, and make decisions about which representations are best for work with a particular set of students (Ball, Thames, & Phelps, 2008). Assessing each of these three ideas separately (producing representations, connecting representations, and selecting representations for use) provides important data on teacher knowledge. However, items that assess multiple aspects of this knowledge base at once have the potential to demonstrate important features of teacher knowledge and performance not otherwise captured, as well as providing information about improving teacher performance. Capturing nuanced performance relates not only to the task design but to the lens used to assess performance on the task. As such, task development also should include rubrics that focus attention on the knowledge teachers display in solving the task and the generalizability of the solution. These rubrics can serve both a diagnostic and prognostic purpose. For example, a teacher might be able to represent a mathematical pattern related to a fixed area/changing perimeter situation as a table, graph, and equation, but may not be able to make connections between those specific representations. This result would suggest a particular sort of intervention that would work from the ability to produce the representations towards the ability to make connections between them that individual items may not have suggested independently. To develop a set of tasks around the relationships between length, perimeter, and area, the constructs of common content knowledge (CCK) and specialized content knowledge (SCK) were used in conjunction with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics standards documents (NCTM, 2000) and previous research to identify key mathematical ideas around which tasks could be built. The articulation of this knowledge base is shown in Table 1. While the framework draws across a diverse set of research literature, it is important to note that is only one

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 11 conceptualization and is not intended as a canonical representation of the complete set of knowledge needed to teach relationships between length, perimeter, and area. INSERT TABLE 1 ABOUT HERE The core ideas represented in the CCK section of Table 1 involve being able to calculate area and perimeter, and describe and distinguish the ways in which one-dimensional measurements relate to area and perimeter. Evidence of these understandings could be represented by the ability to find area and perimeter and to describe the ways in which the quantities are mediated by length in a number of ways, ranging from the use of specific examples to the application of general geometric principles. The aspects of SCK in Table 1 describe the teachers representational fluency with respect to the ideas of length, perimeter and area, their abilities to identify affordances and constraints of different formulas for calculating area and perimeter, and their abilities to identify important ideas in this space for students to learn and tasks that have the potential to support that learning. In considering these aspects of CCK and SCK, one might expect most secondary mathematics teachers to perform well on tasks related to CCK, such as finding perimeter and area of basic shapes and understanding that shapes with the same perimeter can have different areas and vice-versa. Results of previous studies of teachers suggest that tasks related to the SCK in Table 1 might prove more challenging for secondary teachers (Fuys, Geddes, & Tischler, 1988; Hershkowitz & Vinner, 1984; Mayberry, 1983; Swafford, Jones, & Thornton, 1997). These tasks were created as a part of the process of designing a content-focused methods course (Markovits & Smith, 2008; Steele & Hillen, 2012), designed as an opportunity for teachers to enhance their mathematical knowledge for teaching geometry and measurement in

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 12 the middle grades. Teachers performance on the tasks at the start of the course is used to illustrate the ways in which the tasks met the three design criteria, focusing on the set of six tasks related to two-dimensional geometry and measurement. A brief description of the course follows.2. Research Context and Process The six tasks described below were created as a part of the design of a Masters-level content-focused methods course taught by the author at a mid-sized public university in the eastern United States. The instructional intervention consisted of a 6-week course related to mathematical knowledge for teaching geometry and measurement in the middle grades, including work on solving mathematical tasks, analyzing student work, and planning lessons around geometry and measurement content. The first three weeks focused on two-dimensional geometry and measurement, and the tasks were used with teachers during the first course meeting to assess the groups MKT related to course content 3. Table 2 shows demographic information on the 25 teachers who participated in the course. All 25 teachers completed the written assessment, which contained all tasks except the Minimizing Perimeter Lesson Plan, which was completed in an interview setting by a subset of 20 teachers. INSERT TABLE 2 ABOUT HERE

While the tasks were designed in part to measure teacher learning, a detailed reporting of what teachers learned is beyond the scope of this article (see Steele, 2006 for more detail).
3

In addition to the secondary-certified teachers, two additional populations are included: elementary-certified teachers and teacher leaders. At the time of the study, elementary certified teachers were able to teach middle grades mathematics, and the elementary teachers in the course either were or had an interest in teaching middle school. Similarly, the teacher leaders in the course were all secondary-certified teachers who had recently left the classroom, tasked with supporting secondary teachers throughout the region. As such, including these teachers in the population is representative of the range of teachers likely to be teaching middle grades mathematics.

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 13 For teachers written assessment tasks, categorical rubrics were developed that sought to characterize performance with respect to the aspects of knowledge in Table 2. Specifically, these rubrics were designed to assess correctness of responses to mathematical tasks and particular features of responses (number and types of representations, rationale for response) for mathematical tasks. For open response tasks, emergent categories were identified using a Straussian grounded theoretical approach (Corbin & Strauss, 1990). Teacher performance on the Minimizing Perimeter Lesson Plan interview task was audiotaped, transcribed and coded for the number and type of mathematical goals identified by teachers. Teachers were invited to modify the task as a part of the interview protocol; the nature of these modifications were also coded using emergent categories. The author and a second researcher double-coded 25% of the data (randomly selected) to establish reliability. Inter-rater reliability for rubrics ranged from 88% to 100%, with all disagreements resolved through discussion. The Tasks and Findings Six tasks were designed to assess aspects of teachers MKT related to length, perimeter, and area. Table 3 maps the six tasks to the aspects of CCK and SCK related to length, perimeter, and area that they are designed to assess. In each of the sections that follow, the tasks are described in turn. For each task, I detail the ways in which the tasks met the three critical design criteria and in particular, what teacher work on the tasks showed with respect to their common and specialized content knowledge. The description of the task establishes the ways in which the tasks meet the context of teaching. Sections describing the ways in which each task measures CCK and SCK and captures nuanced performance follow for each. INSERT TABLE 3 ABOUT HERE

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 14 Tangrams Task The Tangrams task, shown in Figure 1, uses the familiar set of tangram tiles to create a fixed area-changing perimeter situation. The task presents the set of tangram tiles, commonly used in elementary and middle grades, in a square configuration and two other configurations and asked teachers to determine which of the two rearrangements, if any, had the greater area and greater perimeter. INSERT FIGURE 1 ABOUT HERE Measuring CCK and SCK. The Tangrams task assessed the relationships between length, perimeter, and area in the context of irregular polygons. In particular, the task measured teachers CCK in knowing that partitioning a figure into pieces and rearranging them can change the perimeter but not the area. To respond correctly, teachers needed to articulate the nonconstant relationship between measurable attributes and perimeter and explain why neither of the two rearrangements (B and C) changed the area, which of the two had the greater perimeter, and why. Teachers were asked to justify their responses, giving them the opportunity to use general mathematical principles to compare the two arrangements. Capturing nuanced performance. Responses to this task assess whether or not teachers understand that rearranging the tiles maintains area and potentially changes perimeter. The task also captures the nature of the argument teachers can make to justify that conclusion. Teachers could respond correctly to the task in three ways. They could make a visual estimation of area and perimeter and base their responses on this estimate. Teachers could use a formal or informal measuring device4 to determine the area and perimeter of each shape and make a quantitative
4

Tangram tiles, rulers, and grid paper were available to teachers during the assessment.

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 15 comparison. A general argument could also be made regarding the relationships between the tiles (their area covered and lengths of sides) and the perimeter and area of Figures B and C. Table 4 shows a rubric designed to evaluate these three types of responses, with examples of teacher responses included. INSERT TABLE 4 ABOUT HERE Teacher performance on these tasks was able to differentiate the extent to which teachers relied on empirical arguments as compared to general principles in making the perimeter and area comparisons. For the area question, 21 of 25 teachers correctly noted that both areas were the same, with all but two of the correct responses scoring at Level 3 on the rubric. On the perimeter question, nearly all teachers (23 of 25) successfully selected arrangement C as having the greater perimeter, but the reasoning was more varied. About half justified the change empirically or qualitatively (Level 1 or 2). These results show that while the majority of teachers displayed an important aspect of their common content knowledge, in knowing that figures with the same area can have different perimeters, there was significant variation in the extent to which teachers used general mathematical principles to justify this conclusion. Such general mathematical principles, while not needed to generate a correct answer to the task, are an important aspect of specialized content knowledge. Being able to describe relationships between length, area, and perimeter across shapes using general principles reflects a deeper understanding of the geometric principles underlying plane geometry. . Area of a Parallelogram Task The Area of a Parallelogram task (Figure 2) presents a common geometric figure in the elementary and middle grades - the parallelogram - and fixes two attributes of the parallelogram,

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 16 height and area. The task asks whether or not fixing these two attributes implies a fixed perimeter, and prompts for an explanation of why this is or is not the case. The parallelogram is an important transitional plane figure in the middle school, as along with the triangle, it is one of the first times that students encounter an important measurable attribute (the height) that is not a side of the figure. This task uses this familiar teaching context of the parallelogram and prompts teachers to identify the quantities that are variant and invariant with respect to perimeter and area. This notion of variant and invariant properties is critical to a generalized understanding of geometry and has significant implications for the use of dynamic geometry software in the classroom (Ruthven, Hennessy, & Deaney, 2008) INSERT FIGURE 2 ABOUT HERE Measuring CCK and SCK. The Area of a Parallelogram task assessed teachers CCK regarding the common misconception that a fixed area implies a fixed perimeter (and vice versa), and that a changing area implies a changing perimeter. This concept is not likely to be challenging for secondary mathematics teachers. The interesting features of the task include the ways in which teachers might justify their conclusion and the representations used in explaining their response, a measure of SCK. Capturing nuanced performance. The task allows teachers to make their argument either using empirical examples (specifically, a counterexample) or reasoning using general geometric measurement properties. Responses were coded using the rubric shown in Table 5. The coding scheme distinguishes correct and incorrect responses to the question; answers coded Correct-1 represent a mathematical explanation for why the perimeter is not fixed, indicating a conceptual understanding of the relationship between length, perimeter, and area. Answers coded

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 17 Incorrect-1 represented evidence of the misconception that fixed area implies fixed perimeter. The number and type of representation used to respond to the question was also tracked. INSERT TABLE 5 ABOUT HERE Similarly to the Tangrams item, the Parallelogram task measures an aspect of teachers abilities to describe the relationships between dimension, perimeter, and area. Performance on this item as compared to the Tangrams item suggests that it captures a different aspect of mathematical knowledge for teaching. Performance on the item was mixed, with only 12 of 25 teachers generating correct responses with an explanation. Incorrect answers were frequently accompanied by a figure that correctly represented the situation, but arrived at an incorrect conclusion. Figure 3 shows two such responses. INSERT FIGURE 3 ABOUT HERE The incorrect responses shown in Figure 3 reveal that while teachers might be able to articulate the relationships between base, height and area both symbolically and in a diagram, this does not guarantee that they understand that fixed height and area implicate a unique perimeter. In both cases, responses show that teachers may conflate the height of a parallelogram as contributing to its perimeter even in non-rectangular parallelograms. Measures of representational use showed that all teachers administered the item used a diagram representation, often to provide the requested example as shown in both responses in Figure 3. Most teachers used at least one other representation (mean of 1.72), with the most common secondary representations written explanations, as in Response A, and symbolic, as in Response B. The symbolic response, while it may be comfortable for teachers, often required

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 18 interpretation to determine how the symbolic representation justified the conclusion, as in Response B. In fact, 75% of teachers using a symbolic representation as the only other representation produced an incorrect response. The use of a written explanation did allow more responses to be coded as holding the misconception about the relationship between height, perimeter, and area of the parallelogram (Incorrect-1). These results suggest that while representational fluency is clearly an important aspect of teacher knowledge, it does not always guarantee that the teacher understands the underlying mathematical principles at play. Fence in the Yard Task The Fence in the Yard task (Figure 4) presents a situation in which a fixed length of fence needs to be used to create a rectangular pen of maximum area. This task was administered to 8th graders on the 1992 NAEP. Results were poor, with less than 1% of students scoring extended or satisfactory on the item (Kenney & Lindquist, 2000). Poor performance was attributed in part to lack of familiarity with a complex fixed perimeter-changing area situation. Previous research has shown that students often struggle to make sense of changing x-changing y situations such as the relationships in this task (e.g., Stavy & Tirosh, 1996). . INSERT FIGURE 4 ABOUT HERE Measuring CCK and SCK. With respect to CCK, the task requires teachers to generate length/width pairs and calculate perimeter and area and to recognize that a constant perimeter does not imply a constant area. With respect to SCK, the task provides opportunities to use a variety of representations (tables, graphs, symbols, pictures, verbal explanations) in the service of explaining the relationships between length, perimeter, and area.

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 19 Capturing nuanced performance. Similar to the Tangrams and Parallelograms tasks, Fence in the Yard is designed to capture aspects of teachers abilities to describe the relationships between length, perimeter, and area. Responses to the task were coded for the ability to calculate perimeter and area correctly, to recognize that a constant perimeter does not imply a constant area, both important aspects of CCK. The representations used to explain the relationship between length, perimeter, and area and the extent to which responses made that relationship explicit (aspects of SCK) were coded in order to differentiate teacher performance. Examples of responses that do and do not make this relationship salient are shown in Figure 5. Response A is in the form of a written explanation, and makes explicit the ways in which length/width pairs, perimeter, and area are related in the context of the task, suggesting that the teacher not only can calculate different areas for a fixed perimeter, but can also articulate the generalized principle behind the empirical examples. Response B is in the form of a table with explanatory text; while this response identifies the values that maximize the area correctly, there is no explicit explanation of how the length/width pairs, perimeter, and area are related in the context of the task. In this case, it is unclear the extent to which the teacher knows the general underlying principle. INSERT FIGURE 5 ABOUT HERE Teachers who were administered the Fence in the Yard task were able to identify the fixed perimeter-changing area situation and calculate perimeter and area of a variety of fences. Interesting patterns were observed in the representations and rationale used to describe the impact of changing the dimensions of the rectangle on area while keeping the perimeter constant. This involves both CCK in being able to coordinate and calculate the measurable quantities, and

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 20 SCK in the ability to relate the perimeter and areas to the geometric properties of the figures (see response A in Figure 5). Teachers responses were able to differentiate these performances, with about half of teachers showing empirical examples and half making the general principles related to the geometric properties explicit in addition to finding the maximum area. Similar to the Parallelogram task, teachers SCK in the form of representational use was examined and compared to their abilities to articulate the general principles underlying the task. The task revealed interesting nuances with respect to representational fluency. On this task, representations were categorized (graph, table, written explanation, and symbolic) and crosscoded with respect to the extent to which the response illuminated the relationships between the length/width pairs, perimeter, and area. Most teachers solving the Fence in the Yard task in general used multiple representations in their responses, with the average response including 1.96 representations. There was also an interesting relationship between the representations used and the extent in which the response made salient the relationships between the length/width pairs, perimeter, and area. Responses that made explicit the ways in which changes to length/ width impacted perimeter and area were more likely to use a table (!2(1, 50) = 3.84, p < 0.01). The table is a notable representation because it shows specific values of length, width, perimeter, and area, and allows for pattern recognition that can facilitate a description of the general principles that explain how changes to one quantity impact changes in another. This result suggests that a table can be a particularly rich reasoning tool in examining relationships between length, perimeter, and area.

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 21 Minimizing Perimeter Lesson Planning Task The Minimizing Perimeter Lesson Planning task was implemented in an interview setting and assessed several aspects of teachers CCK and SCK. The task, shown in Figure 6, was adapted from a task in NCTMs Navigating through Geometry Grades 6-8 (Pugalee et al., 2002). The planning task was designed to approximate the authentic work of solving a mathematical task that one would design a lesson around, planning the lesson, and describing the potential implementation with a middle school class. Teachers were asked to examine the task prior to the interview, which involved a fixed area-changing perimeter scenario. In solving the task themselves, teachers had to calculate perimeter and area, explain the non-constant relationship between perimeter and area, articulate the impact of changes to length on perimeter and area, and use a variety of representations to explain these relationships. In planning the lesson, teachers had to decide what aspects of the problem (if any) to modify, articulate their specific goals for the lesson, and describe how the lesson would unfold. INSERT FIGURE 6 ABOUT HERE Measuring CCK and SCK. This task assesses several aspects of teachers mathematical knowledge for teaching related to dimension, perimeter, and area. The task asks teachers to engage in solving the task themselves, and to consider the ways in which they might plan a lesson for a middle school class using this task. As such, the task measures teachers CCK in their ability to solve the problem correctly, and their SCK 5 with respect to the choices they made about representational use and modifications to the problem for implementation in the classroom.
5

While this task does ask teachers to think about classroom practice, the fact that they are considering in general how this task might be implemented, and not with respect to a specific group of students or in the context of a class, distinguishes the measurement of SCK from knowledge of content and students or knowledge of content and teaching.

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 22 Teachers goals also evaluate an aspect of their specialized content knowledge related to their task selection. Capturing nuanced performance. The Minimizing Perimeter task assesses yet another aspect of teachers CCK related to the relationships between dimension, perimeter, and area. Responses that correctly determine area and perimeter, free of evidence of the misconception that a fixed area implied a fixed perimeter, represent evidence of this knowledge. Similar to Fence in the Yard, SCK can be measured by representational use. In addition, the extent to which teachers might modify the task and articulate their goals for the task represent SCK. Rubrics were used for correctness and representational use, with modifications and goals analyzed using open coding. Modifications can have one of two general effects - to maintain the cognitive demands of a task, keeping the focus on conceptual understanding; or to diminish the demands, often through proceduralizing the task (Stein, Smith, Henningsen, & Silver, 2009). Responses were grouped into themes, with modifications and goals assessed for whether or not they supported a procedural or conceptual understanding of length, perimeter, and area (or both). With respect to CCK, teachers in the sample performed well - every teacher was able to create a variety of rectangular length/width pairs and calculate perimeter and area, keeping area constant while varying perimeter. This mirrors performance on the Fence in the Yard task. However, when examined in concert with representational uses, interesting patterns emerged. Representations used included tables, written explanations, and symbols, as well as the graph that is specifically requested. The graphical representation of the non-linear relationship between length and perimeter was one site that differentiated performance. Many teachers either assumed that the relationship would be a symmetric parabola or expressed uncertainty about the shape of

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 23 the graph. (This relationship can be represented by the rational function ). This dis-

crepancy underscores the complex relationship between CCK and SCK. While teachers might demonstrate the ability to generate examples of rectangles that satisfy the task conditions, representing the generalized relationship accurately can pose a challenge, particularly in the context of a graphical representation. The task also sought to capture the ways in which teachers select and modify mathematical tasks related to length, perimeter, and area, and the student learning goals they identify for those tasks. The initial Minimizing Perimeter task was relatively strong in terms of the cognitive demands and had the potential to illuminate key aspects of the relationships between dimension, perimeter, and area. Results showed that most teachers engaged in a modification of some sort: of the 20 responses collected, 15 made modifications that fell into these two categories. Excerpts that exemplify each type of modification are shown below. So and then in the second [part], since my mathematical goal is to get them to understand the relationship between perimeter and area, [question 3] restricts our area and wants to find the minimum amount of fencing. Ok so what I would do with [question 4] is alter it and say ok well the principal gives them a certain amount of fence, instead of giving them a certain amount of area he says, ok youre gonna use the leftover fence from the, 10th grade class garden I think that by forcing them to look at keeping area constant and keeping perimeter constant 2 different situations it, will allow them to see the relationship on both sides of the coin. Lana, Getting at the conceptual ideas. Since this is a 7th grade class, my first approaches [with the class] would probably be to have them just throw out a set of numbers. Such that the area- know that area is length times width[and] say, ok what would the perimeter be. And determine that the area is in fact 36 square feet. And I guess the perimeter would be 26 feet... And then, have them begin to list in the chart length vs. width the idea that if we have 1 for the length, the width is 36. Two for the length, the width is 18. And so forth. List every possibility. Noah, Proceduralizing the task

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 24 Interesting correlations also emerged when teachers modifications were considered with respect to their knowledge about the underlying relationship. Of the ten teachers that exhibited a misconception or uncertainty about the nature of the relationship between length and perimeter, only one made modifications that targeted conceptual understanding. These data suggest a critical correlation - the nature of teachers CCK and SCK directly related to the mathematical ideas influences the ways in which teachers might choose to plan for a lesson around that task. Another influence on the ways in which teachers might implement tasks are the extent to which they are able to determine a tasks mathematical goals, noted in previous research as a critical influence on teachers planning practices (Morris, Hiebert, & Spitzer, 2009). The teachers who piloted this item identified between two and three mathematical goals for the task (a mean of 2.15). What was notable about these goals was the extent to which they targeted the generalized principles as compared to specifics. For example, while thirteen teachers identified a goal related to constant area and changing perimeter, five of these teachers limited their discussion of that goal to the ability to identify the square as the minimum perimeter condition. The articulation of specific goals that relate to the general principles have implications for students opportunities to learn. For example, if students know that rectangles can have the same area and different perimeters, this does not necessarily ensure that they will be able to describe the impact of changing length and width on that perimeter while keeping area constant. In contrast to the results related to task modification, the number of goals specified and the nature of the goals did not show any specific correlation to teachers mathematical responses to the task, although this is an important area for further inquiry.

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 25 Together, these results show important connections between CCK and SCK. Given a relatively robust mathematical task, the depth of teachers understanding of the mathematics in the task has implications for teaching decisions that either maintain the cognitive demand or proceduralize the task. This also suggests the importance of a teacher working through a mathematical task as a part of the planning process and as a vector for developing SCK. In addition, having teachers specify their goals for a rich mathematical task can produce goals of varying grain sizes. While no direct correlation was found in this study between goals and planning practices, previous research suggests that this is a fruitful area for further inquiry. Big Ideas Task In order to make informed choices about mathematical tasks and topics, teachers need to determine what the important content related to length, perimeter, and area might be for students to learn. The Big Ideas task asked teachers identify the ideas that they felt middle grades students should learn related to two-dimensional geometry, including length, perimeter, and area. Measuring CCK and SCK. This task measures SCK in a similar way to the Minimizing Perimeter task, in which teachers were asked to specify goals for a mathematical task. This task zooms out to evaluate the extent to which teachers are able to articulate broader goals that cut across grades for geometry and measurement learning. Teachers written responses were examined for themes using open coding, and distilled to a set of general categories. These general categories were identified as involving understanding of a concept, the learning of a specific procedure or set of procedures, or a combination of conceptual and procedural. Grouws, Smith, and Sztajns (2004) analysis of a national sample of US middle school teachers suggests that the bulk of middle school geometry and measurement instruction focuses on procedural

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 26 work, such as using formulas to calculate perimeter and area of basic shapes. This task was designed to assess what teachers value with respect to geometry and measurement instruction. Capturing nuanced performance. The open nature of this task allowed teachers to express a wide range of topics related to geometry and measurement that they felt were important. Responses were coded as to whether the goals were primarily procedural in nature or conceptual in nature. While a rich understanding of geometry and measurement would likely contain both sorts of goals, this task provides the opportunity to measure both the mathematical content of the goals and the extent to which conceptual and procedural goals are balanced. INSERT TABLE 6 ABOUT HERE Data from this task was coded thematically, with goal themes classified as primarily procedural or conceptual. The results are shown in Table 6, with the number of teachers naming each type of goal in parentheses. These data show that in general, teachers identified both procedural and conceptual goals, with a stronger emphasis on procedural as measured by the number of teachers identifying each type of goal. Moreover, there is little consensus on the nature of geometry and measurement in the middle grades amongst teachers, as the most popular goal theme only encompassed slightly more than half of the teachers responding. Considering Formula Use Task In addition to making decisions about the topics students will explore related to geometry and measurement, teachers also must make decisions about the the methods and tools that will be promoted in the learning of these topics. In the course of teaching lessons on perimeter and area, teachers need to make decisions about the formulas they will introduce to students to facilitate calculation. These decisions are often influenced by the textbook in use, teachers own

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 27 mathematical experiences, standardized tests, and the prior knowledge that students bring to the work in the classroom. The Considering Formula Use task (Figure 7) is designed to assess the reasons why teachers might select one formula for calculating the area of a rectangle over another. INSERT FIGURE 7 ABOUT HERE Measuring CCK and SCK. Formulas are critical in facilitating efficient calculation of measurable quantities such as perimeter and area. They also afford the opportunity to make connections between the specific measures and geometric properties of figures, as represented by the attributes used in the calculation (e.g., base, height, etc.) 6. Similar to representational use, understanding the affordances and constraints of different formulas for the same measure is prerequisite to teachers making informed decisions about formula use with their students. The task asked teachers to consider which formula for area of a rectangle, A=bh or A=lw, they might use with a group of students and why. Capturing nuanced performance. Responses were coded based on the formula chosen (bh, lw, both, or no preference) and the rationale for why the formula was chosen, aggregated into thematic categories. The results from this item show interesting links between formula choice and the rationale. All teachers choosing the A=lw formula and those justified their choice by stating that it was easier for students to use or that measurements were easier to find when referring to length and width. Teachers preferring the A=bh justified their choices by citing the generality of the formula to figures beyond the rectangle and the connection to the formula for

The nature of these formulas and their typical use in schools can obscure the distinctions between geometric and measurement quantities. However, the formulas are ubiquitous in their use and a discussion of these geometry and measurement distinctions was beyond the scope of both the task and this article.

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 28 the volume of a rectangular prism or cylinder. When considered alongside their rationales, teachers pedagogical choices of a formula to use with students suggest important relationships to their own content knowledge. Teachers attuned to the conceptual relationships between different two-dimensional figures and the relationships between area and volume formulas may be more likely to choose one area formula over the other in work with their students. Additionally, teachers focused on procedural issues for their students, such as the ability to easily identify measurements and make calculations, are likely to choose a different formula. This contrast provides important insight into the extent to which teachers might draw on their conceptual knowledge, as compared to procedural issues such as ease of student calculation, in making decisions about how to teach mathematics. DISCUSSION In this article, I have presented three design features for rich, open-response items that assess mathematical knowledge for teaching. The set of six two-dimensional geometry and measurement tasks presented here embody these design features and illustrate the ways in which the tasks are grounded in the context of teaching, capture nuanced teacher performance, and measure common and specialized content knowledge. The examples of teacher performance on the tasks presented here illustrates the ways in which the tasks can differentiate teacher performance. Moreover, teacher work on the tasks provides important windows into the connections between common and specialized content knowledge in teaching. Previous research has underscored the importance of specialized content knowledge as a causal influence on student achievement (Hill, Rowan, & Ball, 2005) and as an important factor in teachers abilities to unpack mathematical goals in lesson planning (Morris, Hiebert, &

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 29 Spitzer, 2009), and has noted that geometry and measurement is a content area in which teachers often have less expertise than they might like in thinking about how to enact rich lessons with students (Swafford, Jones, & Thornton, 1997). The tasks described here illustrate the important connections between common and specialized content knowledge and the ways in which CCK can influence how teachers make use of SCK. For example, teachers with stronger abilities to describe the relationships between length, perimeter, and area clearly on the Fence in the Yard Task were more likely to use multiple representations in their response. The ability to use multiple representations and to understand the ways in which those representations make aspects of the mathematics salient implicates a wider range of pedagogical choices they might make in their classrooms. Moreover, these teachers selected a particular representation - the table - that has purchase in making those relationships visible. This strong SCK is more likely to provide teachers with observable pedagogical tools and practices to support the development of students understanding of this relationship in their own classroom. These results resonate with Hill et al.s (2008) analysis of teacher practice, in which they found correlations between specific performances on SCK items and the quality and richness of teachers mathematics instruction, particularly with respect to mathematical language. These items also illustrate important connections between CCK and SCK, a relationship that previous work on mathematical knowledge for teaching has not fully explored. Given that these tasks are designed for use with secondary teachers, it is anticipated that teachers will approach these items with relatively strong CCK. Teachers are likely to be able to calculate perimeter and area and make basic connections between length, perimeter, and area; the data from the items bore that hypothesis out at some level. However, items that measured those

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 30 aspects of CCK from multiple angles (e.g., using both rectangles and parallelograms, reasoning from diagrammatic and contextual starting situations) and that provided opportunities to mobilize both CCK and SCK in the service of the same task, revealed important nuances and connections. One such example is with respect to the relationship between dimension, perimeter, and area. Tasks using squares and rectangles embedded in a context, in which empirical examples could be used to describe the relationship, showed strong CCK performance. The parallelogram task, which used a more complex shape with respect to the relationships between dimension, perimeter, and area and provided opportunities to make use of general principles, illustrated that the connections between CCK and SCK were not robust in some cases. The Minimizing Perimeter task also revealed an important relationship between CCK and SCK and teachers ability to write goals for a mathematical lesson. Teachers with stronger mathematical performances on the task were better able to write more specific goals for the use of the Minimizing Perimeter task with students. Unpacking mathematical goals is a critical factor in planning for and enacting meaningful mathematics instruction, and learning to write such goals can be challenging (Morris, Hiebert, & Spitzer, 2009). Morris and colleagues in their study posit that teachers SCK influences their ability to unpack mathematical goals; the results of the Minimizing Perimeter task support this hypothesis. Given that teachers were also required to solve the task prior to the interview, the findings support the assertion that engaging in a mathematical task prior to teaching it is a critical skill that supports high-quality mathematics teaching (Smith & Stein, 2011; Steele, 2008). This finding has particularly important implications for supporting prospective teachers in building capacity to plan for, teach, and reflect on strong, conceptually-based mathematics lessons.

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 31 The three design features exemplified by these tasks - grounded in the context of teaching, measuring CCK and SCK, and capturing nuanced performance - are intended to be of use to researchers interested in investigating other aspects of mathematical knowledge for teaching. An important first step is using the research literature on student and teacher learning in the development of an MKT framework for the content in question. Items can then be adapted or designed that measure these mathematical ideas across multiple aspects of MKT. An important limitation of this study was the development of items that only measured common and specialized content knowledge; researchers interested in interactions across the other MKT categories, such as knowledge of content and students or curricular knowledge, might design tasks that assess both subject-matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. Understanding these interactions through teacher knowledge assessments could significantly advance the fields understanding of the nature and use of mathematical knowledge for teaching. The construction of such tasks could aid the work of assessing the impact of mathematics teacher education and professional development efforts. The tasks themselves could also be positioned as objects of inquiry for teachers to support them in deepening their own understandings. While there has been significant research effort in developing measures of teachers mathematical knowledge for teaching, the bulk of this work has focused on elementary content and multiple-choice items that afford the collection of large data sets. This research advances the field and supports continued theory-building related to MKT. The items in this article and the design features upon which they are built provide a model for a finer-grained examination of the relationships between dimensions of teachers mathematical knowledge. They also provide us with tools to assess teacher knowledge in geometry and measurement at the secondary level. The

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 32 limitations of these items is that they do take significant time and energy to both create and assess; however, they provide lenses into mathematical knowledge for teaching that other assessments do not. In addition, the articulation of the three design features constitutes a framework for future work creating items in other content areas, While these items focused on common and specialized content knowledge, the design features are likely extensible to other subdomains of MKT. These design features and prototype items can serve as a foundation for future research to build a cohesive set of measures, and ultimately a robust knowledge base, about secondary mathematical knowledge for teaching.

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GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 34 Clements, D.H. (1999). Teaching Length Measurement: Research Challenges. School Science and Mathematics, 99(1), 5-11. Common Core State Standards Initiative (2010). Common Core Standards for Mathematics. Accessed on 11 April 2011 from http://www.corestandards.org/. Corbin, J., & Strauss, A. (1990). Grounded theory research: Procedures, canons, and evaluative criteria. Qualitative Sociology, 13(1), 3-21. Driscoll, M., DiMatteo, R.W., Nikula, J., & Egan, M. (2007). Fostering Geometric Thinking: A Guide for Teachers, Grades 5-10. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Driscoll, M. & Seago, N. (2009, April). Transforming Middle School Geometry: Professional Development Materials That Support the Teaching and Learning of Similarity. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA. Fuys, D., Geddes, D., & Tischler, R. (1988). Journal for Research in Mathematics Education Monograph 3:The van Hiele model of thinking in geometry among adolescents. Reston, VA: NCTM. Gonzalez, P., Guzman, J.C., Partelow, L., Pahlke, E., Jocelyn, L., Kastberg, D., & Williams, T. (2004). Highlights From the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2003. Washington, DC: US Department of Education. Grouws, D.A., Smith, M.S., & Sztajn, P. (2004). The preparation and teaching practices of United States mathematics teachers: Grades 4 and 8. In P. Kloosterman & F.K. Lester, Jr., Results and interpretations of the 1990 through 2000 mathematics assessments of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (pp. 221-267). Reston, VA: NCTM.

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 35 Hershkowitz, R., & Vinner, S. (1984, August). Childrens concept in elementary geometry - A reflection of teachers concepts? In B. Southwell, R. Eyland, M. Cooper, J. Conroy, & K. Collis (Eds.) Proceedings of the 8th PME conference (pp. 6369). Darlinghurst, Australia: Mathematical Association of New South Wales. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 306 127). Hoffer, A. (1983). Van Hiele-based research. In R. Lesh & M. Landau (Eds.), Acquisition of mathematics concepts and processes (pp. 205-227). New York: Academic Press. Hill, H. C., Blunk, M., Charalambous, C., Lewis, J., Phelps, G. C., Sleep, L., et al. (2008). Mathematical knowledge for teaching and the mathematical quality of instruction: An exploratory study. Cognition and Instruction, 26, 430 511. Hill, H.C., Rowan, B., & Ball, D. (2005). Effects of teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching on student achievement. American Educational Research Journal, 42(2), 371-406. Kasten, S.E. & Newton, J.A. (in press). Analysis of K-8 Measurement Grade Level Expectations. Kenney, P.A., & Lindquist, M.M. (2000). Students performances on thematically related NAEP tasks. In E.A. Silver & P.A. Kenney (Eds.), Results from the seventh mathematics assessment of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (pp. 343-376). Reston,VA: NCTM. Kloosterman, P., & Lester, F. K., Jr. (Eds.) (2007). Results and interpretations of the 2003 mathematics assessment of the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 36 Lehrer, R. (2003). Developing understanding of measurement. In J. Kilpatrick, W. G. Martin, & D. E. Schifter (Eds.), A research companion to principles and standards for school mathematics. (pp.179-192). Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Mayberry, J. (1983). The van Hiele levels of geometric thought in undergraduate preservice teachers. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 14(1), 58-69. Markovits, Z. & Smith, M.S. (2008). Cases as tools in mathematics teacher education. In Tirosh, D. & Wood, T. (Eds.), The international handbook of mathematics teacher education (Volume 2: Tools and processes in mathematics teacher education, pp. 39-64). Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers. Martin, W.G. & Strutchens, M.E. (2000). The state of NAEP findings: 1996. In E.A. Silver & P.A. Kenney (Eds.), Results from the seventh mathematics assessment of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (pp. 193-234). Reston,VA: NCTM. Morris, A.K., Hiebert, J., & Spitzer, S.M. (2009). Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching in Planning and Evaluating Instruction: What Can Preservice Teachers Learn? Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 40(5), 491-529. National Center for Educational Statistics (2012). International Data Explorer. http:// nces.ed.gov/surveys/international/ide/ Accessed 18 February 2012. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (2000). Principles and standards for school mathematics. Reston, VA: NCTM. Provasnik, S., Gonzales, P., & Miller, D. (2009). U.S. Performance Across International Assessments of Student Achievement: Special Supplement to The Condition of Education 2009. Washington, DC: US Department of Education.

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 37 Pugalee, D., Frykolm, J., Johnson, A., Slovin, H., Malloy, C., & Preston, R. (2002). Navigating through Geometry in Grades 6-8. Reston, VA: NCTM. Ruthven, K., Hennessy, S., & Deaney, R. (2008). Constructions of dynamic geometry: A study of the interpretative flexibility of educational software in classroom practice. Computers and Education, 51(1), 297-317. Sarama, J., Clements, D.H., Swaminathan, S., McMillen, S., & Gmez, R.M.G. (2003). Development of mathematical concepts of two-dimensional space in grid environments: An exploratory study. Cognition and Instruction, 21(3), 285-324. Smith, M.S., & Stein, M.K. (2011). 5 practices for orchestrating productive mathematical discussions. Reston, VA: NCTM. Speer, N.M. & King, K. (2009, March). Examining Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching in Secondary and Post-Secondary Contexts. Presentation given at the Annual Meeting of the Special Interest Group of the Mathematical Association of America on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education (SIGMAA on RUME), San Diego, CA. Stavy, R. & Tirosh, D. (1996). Intuitive rules in science and mathematics: the case of more of A -- more of B. International Journal for Science Education, 18, 653-667. Steele, M.D. (2006). Middle grades geometry and measurement: Examining change in knowledge needed for teaching through a practice-based teacher education experience. Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No. 305248105) Steele, M.D. (2008). Building bridges: Cases as catalysts for the integration of mathematical and pedagogical knowledge. In M. S. Smith & S. N. Friel, Cases in mathematics teacher

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 38 education: Tools for developing knowledge needed for teaching (pp. 57-72). Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators Monograph series, Volume 4. San Diego: AMTE. Steele, M.D. & Hillen, A.F. (2012). Content-focused methods courses: Integrating pedagogy and mathematical content. Mathematics Teacher Educator, 1, 52-69. Stein, M.K., Smith, M.S., Henningsen, M., & Silver, E.A. (2009). Implementing standards-based mathematics instruction: A casebook for professional development (second edition). New York: Teachers College Press. Strom, D., Kemeny, V., Lehrer, R., Forman, E.A. (2001). Visualizing the emergent structure of childrens mathematical argument. Cognitive Science, 25, 733-773. Swafford, J., Jones, G., & Thornton, C. (1997). Increased knowledge in geometry and instructional practice. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 28(4), 467. Thompson, C. L., & Zeuli, J. S. (1999). The frame and the tapestry: Standards-based reform and professional development. In L. Darling-Hammond & G. Sykes (Eds.), Teaching as the learning profession: Handbook of policy and practice (pp. 341"375). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 39 Table 1 Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching Length, Perimeter, and Area. Common Content Knowledge Calculate the perimeter and area of shapes given length measurements Demonstrate a conceptual understanding of the relationships between lengths, perimeter, and area, including: the non-constant relationship between perimeter and area the impact of changes to one-dimensional attributes on perimeter and area Specialized Content Knowledge Know the affordances and constraints of different formulas related to length, perimeter, and area Demonstrate representational fluency (symbolic, tabular, pictoral/graphical and moves between them) in describing the relationships between length, perimeter, and area

Identifying aspects of the relationship between length, perimeter, and area that are important for students to learn Identify mathematical tasks that support students understandings of length, perimeter, and area

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 40 Table 2 Teachers providing data on the geometry and measurement items. Subgroup Secondary prospective Elementary prospective Secondary practicing Teacher leaders Teachers providing written data 9 3 10 3 Teachers providing interview data 8 3 7 2

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 41 Table 3 Mapping Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching Length, Perimeter, and Area to the Tasks Common Content Knowledge Calculate the perimeter and area of shapes given length measurements Demonstrate a conceptual understanding of the relationships between length, perimeter, and area, including: the non-constant relationship between perimeter and area the impact of changes to one-dimensional attributes on perimeter and area Specialized Content Knowledge Know the affordances and constraints of different formulas related to length, perimeter, and area Demonstrate representational fluency (symbolic, tabular, pictoral/graphical and moves between them) in describing the relationships between length, perimeter, and area Identifying aspects of the relationship between length, perimeter, and area that are important for students to learn Identify mathematical tasks that support students understandings of length, perimeter, and area Data Sources Fence in the Yard task Minimizing Perimeter Lesson Plan interview task Fence in the Yard task Area of a Parallelogram task Tangrams task Minimizing Perimeter Lesson Plan interview task Data Sources Considering Formula Use task Fence in the Yard task Area of a Parallelogram task Big Ideas task Minimizing Perimeter Lesson Plan interview task

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 42 Table 4 Coding rubric for Tangrams Task. Question 1 (Area) Score Point 3: Response is correct Justification uses the concept of area to make a general argument Example: They both have the same area because each tile has a fixed area, they are just in a different arrangement Score Point 2: Response is correct Justification uses a form of empirical measurement Example: I broke each figure into triangles and rectangles and calculated the areas Score Point 1: Response is correct Justification is based on qualitative observation or no justification is provided Example: They look like they cover the same space Score Point 0: Incorrect, missing, or vague response Question 2 (Perimeter) Score Point 3: Response is correct Justification uses the concept of perimeter to make a general argument Example: Figure 3 spreads the figure out and exposes more edges of the seven tiles, giving a greater perimeter Score Point 2: Response is correct Justification uses a form of empirical measurement Example: I measured the perimeter of both and Figure 3 has the greater perimeter Score Point 1: Response is correct Justification is based on qualitative observation or no justification is provided Example: Figure 3 looks like it has more length around the outside Score Point 0: Incorrect, missing, or vague response

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 43 Table 5 Coding rubric for Area of a Parallelogram Task. Category Correct-1 Description Correct response (statement is false) Shows at least 2 examples that demonstrate why the statement is false, or a generalization that explains why Correct response (statement is false) Does not provide examples or a generalization that explains why Incorrect response (statement is true) Evidence that the teacher thinks there is only one possible parallelogram with the specified base and area Incorrect response (statement is true) No evidence that the teacher thinks there is only one possible parallelogram with the specified base and area OR Correct response, erroneous reason

Correct-2

Incorrect-1

Incorrect-2

Vague/Inconclusive Cannot be classified or response is incomplete

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 44 Table 6 Goal categories identifiedBig Ideas task Procedural Goals Calculate or find area and perimeter (13) Identify the names and characteristics of 2-D shapes (12) Memorize and use formulas (3) Find missing sides of a shape given perimeter and/or area (3) Differentiate between perimeter and area on a shape (3) Conceptual Goals Understand perimeter and area conceptually, including perimeter as distance around, area as covering (8) Describe the relationships between length, perimeter, and area (7) Generate and explain formulas (6) Describe the difference between linear and square units (4) Use or apply perimeter and area (4) Decompose and manipulate shapes into other shapes (2) Develop spatial sense (2)

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 45 Tangrams are a special set of 7 geometric tiles shown below in Figure 1. The shapes in Figures 2 and 3 were formed using all the tangram tiles.

! a. Which figure, 2 or 3, has the greater area? Justify your answer. b. Which figure, 2 or 3, has the greater perimeter? Justify your answer.
Figure 1. The Tangrams Task.

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 46 True or false: A parallelogram with a base of 6 cm and an area of 24 cm2 will always have the same perimeter. Provide at least one example to support your answer.

Figure 2. Area of a Parallelogram task.

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 47 Response A: True there is only one such parallelogram that can be formed with these dimensions, so the perimeter will always be the same.

Response B:

True

Figure 3. Incorrect solutions to the Area of a Parallelogram task.

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 48 Julie wants to fence in an area in her yard for her dog. After paying for the materials to build her doghouse, she can afford to buy only 36 feet of fencing. She is considering various different shapes for the enclosed area. However, she wants all of her shapes to have 4 sides that are whole number lengths and contain 4 right angles. All 4 sides are to have fencing. What is the largest area that Julie can enclose with 36 feet of fencing? Support your answer by showing the work that would convince Julie that your area is the largest. (From 1996 NAEP, as cited in Kenney & Lindquist, 2000)
Figure 4. Fence in the Yard task.

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 49

! Response A!
l 1 2 3 As the numbers/length of fencing gets further from one another the area decreases. This is the greatest area one can have w/36 ft of fencing. All the sides are the same, thus making it a square. As we discussed in class a square maximizes the area. 4 5 6 7 8 Specically describes how dimension, perimeter, and area are related in the context of the problem 9 10 w 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8

Response B
Perimeter (ft.) 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 Area (ft2) 17 32 45 56 65 72 77 80 81 80 (posttest response)

...pattern will continue...

Does not specically describe relationship between dimension, perimeter, and area

Figure 5. Responses to Fence in the Yard.

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 50 Your final task is to plan a lesson around this problem. Im going to give you 5 to 8 minutes to write down your ideas about how you might implement a lesson with this problem. Your target mathematical goal will be to get students to understand the relationships between area and perimeter. You are free to modify the problem in any way. When the teacher indicates they are finished planning the lesson ask, Could you walk me through the lesson you have planned around this task? What do you hope students will learn through engaging in this lesson? Is there anything else you would like to say about this lesson? Minimizing Perimeter Task (Adapted from Pugalee et al., 2002) The 7th grade class wants to start a small organic school garden to grow vegetables for the cafeteria. The principal has told the class that they can have a 36 ft2 rectangular area behind the school. The rectangle can be any shape they choose, so long as it is 36 square feet in area. 1. Find the least amount of fencing for a rectangular garden plot that is 36 square feet in area. Organize the information using a table like the one below.
Length (feet) Width (feet) Perimeter (feet) Area (square feet)

2. Use the data in your table to create a graph of perimeter vs. length. 3. The 6th grade decides they also want to start a small garden. The principal gives them 24 ft2 to create their garden in any rectangular shape they choose. Find the least amount of fencing for a rectangular garden plot that is 24 square feet in area. Make a table and graph similar to the ones you created above. 4. When they hear of the success of the middle school gardens, the local high school wants to create a garden of their own. Their principal allows the high school to have 100 ft2. Make a conjecture about the minimum fencing needed for an area of 100 square feet and write a paragraph defending your conjecture.
Figure 6. The Minimizing Perimeter Interview Prompt & Instructional Task.

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT ASSESSMENT TASKS 51 There are two common forms that textbooks use for the area of a rectangle: Area = length # width and Area = base # height Is there a difference between the two formulas? If so, describe the difference. Which would you choose to use with students, and why?
Figure 7. The Considering Formula Use Task.