CQUniversity Unit Profile.

Designing assessment tasks for formative and summative purposes requires an understanding of how students learn mathematics, the iterative and connected nature of mathematical concepts and the sequence for developing understanding in a topic area, through pedagogical practices for learning which build mathematical understanding, problem solving, reasoning and fluency.

The task requires you to design an assessment package for three connected elements of an achievement standard in the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics. One of the elements must be from the Number strand, the second from the Algebra strand and the third from either the Measurement, Geometry, Statistics or Probability strands. Together, the three elements determine your chosen topic. 

In doing so you will demonstrate teaching practices of Assessing (evaluating learning), Reflecting (analysing practices and impact) and Appraising (using evident to adjust future strategies).

Your justification must include how the assessment design supports explicit teaching approaches appropriate to Mathematics that build mathematical modelling and computational thinking processes and results in deep mathematical understanding appropriate to the level description of the year of learning.

You will identify specific achievement standard statements and connected content descriptions for the topic at a chosen year level to inform the development of formative and summative assessment tasks. 

You will consider the sequence of achievement across year levels to determine the expected prior knowledge and future learning in relation to the topic. Early Childhood students will focus on the Foundation – Year 2 curriculum. This means that early childhood students may need to refer to the Early Years Learning Framework.

The standards-aligned, task -specific marking guide for the summative task will assist you to determine the learner’s level of understanding and skill development for reporting purposes.  

You will design formative tasks to be used to diagnose potential barriers to success in the learning of the topic. 

The formative (diagnostic) and summative assessment tasks and task-specific marking guide should be referenced to the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics achievement standards and pre-mapped content descriptions (ACARA, 2022) and be structured to allow students to demonstrate proficiency in mathematics (problem solving, reasoning, understanding and fluency) for the topic chosen. 

The summative task marking guide will articulate the qualities that support teachers to make valid and reliable decisions that identify students working at, above or below the expected year level standard.  

The design of the formative task will provide focus for planning differentiated teaching and learning for students and will allow teacher(s) to establishing learning goals for students of varying abilities and characteristics and determining next steps teaching, from analysing data from the task.

The design of assessment must be justified through reference to curriculum documents and other relevant sources and show evidence of professional knowledge of the sequence for the topic. Your justification must include how the assessment design supports explicit teaching approaches that build mathematical modelling and computational fluency.

A marking guide for the formative task should include sufficient detail to allow teachers to make reliable judgements on student responses to assist a user in establishing learning goals for students of varying abilities and plan quality differentiated teaching practices during the unit, prior to summative assessment.

You need to share the design of your formative (diagnostic) task and summative task and standards-aligned task-specific marking guide with either a peer or a practising teacher to initiate a moderation conversation. 

The purpose of this collaboration is to quality assure the validity, accessibility and reliability of the artefacts that you have designed. From this professional conversation, report whether your tasks and marking guides and would be supportive of teachers in planning for differentiated instruction and making consistent and comparable judgements about student learning.  

For this part of the task, you and the person with whom you are collaborating with should use the QCAA quality assurance checklist to review the formative task and the summative assessment task and marking guide. You should commentate on the aspects for improvement that were identified. 

The checklist can be found here.

Your submission should include:

•       A description outlining your topic area for a year level of Australian Curriculum: Mathematics (ACARA, 2022) and sequences for development of the topic area components (current year level, prior and subsequent year levels) with included identification of embedded conceptual knowledge important for student understanding to be fostered.

•       You must also include overview outlining the sequence for your topic (weekly focuses x 4). This overview will be further developed in AT2 to include teaching strategies that will be applied to build both conceptual understanding and fluency in your chosen topic.

•       A formative task (student activities), summative task (description and student activities) with sample responses for students ‘at’ and ‘above’ level expected levels and standards-aligned, task-specific marking guide for the topic area specific to the year level chosen. These artefacts will form an appendix for the submission and will not be included in the word count.

•       Justification of the items included on the formative task as the basis for establishing learning goals and planning differentiated instruction for students at the full range of ability levels.

•       Justification of how the design of learning and assessment supports explicit teaching approaches that simultaneously build mathematical modelling and computational thinking.

•       A summary of the ‘before assessment takes place’ moderation process, including responses to the quality assurance checklist and evaluation of the effectiveness of the summative task and marking guide highlighting decisions informed by profession learning to ensure validity, accessibility and reliability. 

•       Appropriate terminology and references to authoritative sources.

Word count - 2000 maximum

WORD COUNT for written assignments:
The word count is considered from the first word of the introduction to the last word of the conclusion. It excludes the cover page, abstract, contents page, reference page and appendices. It includes in-text references and direct quotations.

Your task may be penalised for not adhering to the word count.

Assessment Due Date - 24 August 2026 (Monday)

Weighting - 50%

Within this assessment, the use of Gen AI agents is as follows:
AI tool scale level: Level 2 - You may use Al for planning, idea development, and research. Your final submission should show how you have developed and refined these ideas. Any misuse or lack of disclosure regarding the use of AI tools will be considered a breach of academic integrity.

Please note: The 72-Hour grace period applies to Assessment Task 1.

If you need longer than 72 hours, you'll still need to use the normal Assessment Extension System process.

Learning Outcomes Assessed

1. Analyse the structure and organisation of content in the mathematics curriculum to identify key stages in concept development as a focus for teaching, learning and assessment.
Design assessment strategies and marking guides for collecting and interpreting data and reporting on students’ progress and achievement of knowledge and skills in Mathematics.

4. Analyse the structure and organisation of content in the mathematics curriculum to identify key stages in concept development as a focus for teaching, learning and assessment.
Design assessment strategies and marking guides for collecting and interpreting data and reporting on students’ progress and achievement of knowledge and skills in Mathematics.

7. Participate in moderation for the purpose of developing shared understanding of student learning needs and achievement.

Australian Professional Standards for Teachers addressed in this task

1.2, 1.5, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.2, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.5

Assessment will be marked against the following criteria:

• Knowledge of the content, substance and structure the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics informed by knowledge of how students learn Mathematics.
• Planning that aligns curriculum, teaching and learning, and assessment using knowledge of student learning and effective teaching and assessment strategies.
• Use and justification of strategies and resources including ICTs to support learning and engagement of diverse learners.
• Justification of pedagogical decision-making, content organisation, and resource selection in the development of the learning progression for the chosen topic through well designed learning experiences.
• Design and justification of assessment strategies and tools for making reliable judgements on students’ understanding and Mathematical proficiency for the purposes of giving feedback, differentiating instruction and reporting on student learning.
• Use of language conventions, clarity and conciseness of communication, and compliance with the APA Style Guide.

You are to develop a teaching plan for four weeks for mathematics for a designated primary school year level and term (e.g. Year 4, Term 3). The plan must use the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics (ACARA, 2022) and focus on content descriptions from Number and Algebra and one other content strand (i.e. Measurement, Geometry, Statistics or Probability). The teaching plan aligns with the assessment ‘for’ and ‘of’ learning in AT1.

The plan must show alignment between curriculum intent, teaching and learning and assessment. It must demonstrate coherent and deliberate planning and sequencing of tasks and lessons with curriculum-aligned learning objectives (learning intent) and clear descriptions of how students will show evidence of mastery (success criteria). It must include details of key learning experiences, checks for learning (formative assessment) and resources. 

You need to prepare to teach the planned topic by researching the common progression of learning, critical curriculum knowledge and skills needed for students to progress and demonstrate awareness of common learning misconceptions of your topic. You will identify resources (digital/manipulative/visual) that promote engagement with and understanding of the core mathematical concepts for learners from a range of ability levels.  

Your research should consider approaches and practices that support diverse learners, potentially describing the adjustments required for specific individuals.

In doing so you will demonstrate teaching practice of Planning (designing a sequence of lessons). You may have the opportunity to execute your plan (teach) in future Praxis. 

The assessment task submission should use a presentation-style appropriate for a primary school curriculum planning document (e.g. QCAA Prep to Year 10 Unit of work plan: Mathematics P–10 Mathematics planning resources (Version 9.0) | Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority).  

You are NOT permitted to submit a planning document from a school or C2C and/or curriculum gateway units.

The final submission should be in the form of a written report with the following sections:

●      Introduction- brief outline of the context and key considerations for planning mathematics units and lessons. (approx. 200-250 words)

●      Planning document for the mathematics (NOT counted in word limit)

●      Discussion of the research on common learning misconceptions and catering for diverse learners that have informed your pedagogical decision-making and understanding about how students learn mathematics (approx. 500 words)

●      Discussion of the ways that resources (digital, manipulatives and models) would be used to complement teaching strategies and promote deep learning of, and engagement with, the content of the chosen mathematics topic area/s of students with diverse needs and backgrounds. (approx. 200-250 words)

●      Justification of the pedagogy and resources chosen to develop the identified knowledge, understanding and skills for the topic/s and planned lesson level assessment (formative assessment) of student learning in the chosen year level (approx. 400-450 words)

●      References (NOT counted in word limit)

●      Appendices – Unit Plan document including resources to support learning (NOT counted in word limit)

Word count for written assignments

2000 words maximum.

Your task may be penalised for not adhering to the word count.

The word count is considered from the first word of the introduction to the last word of the conclusion. It excludes the cover page, abstract, contents page, reference page and appendices. It includes in-text references and direct quotations.

Weighting 

50%

Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI)
Within this assessment, the use of Gen AI agents is as follows: 

AI tool scale: Level 2 - You may use Al for planning, idea development, and research. Your final submission should show how you have developed and refined these ideas. Any misuse or lack of disclosure regarding the use of AI tools will be considered a breach of academic integrity.

Please note: The 72-Hour grace period applies to Assessment Task 1.

If you need longer than 72 hours, you'll still need to use the normal Assessment Extension System process.

Learning Outcomes Assessed

1. Analyse the structure and organisation of content in the mathematics curriculum to identify key stages in concept development as a focus for teaching, learning and assessment.
2. Research and apply evidence-based pedagogical approaches that are responsive to misconceptions or barriers to learning in Mathematics for students from a range of ability levels, characteristics and experiential backgrounds.
3. Propose and justify strategies and approaches to teaching Mathematics that promote the inclusive participation, understanding and mathematical proficiency of students from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds and students with disability.
4. Design assessment strategies and marking guides for collecting and interpreting data and reporting on students’ progress and achievement of knowledge and skills in mathematics. 
5. Justify teaching strategies and the selection and use of resources that scaffold students’ understanding of core mathematical concepts.
6. Identify opportunities for students to use ICTs for purposeful participation in learning experiences to gain mathematical knowledge and proficiency.

Australian Professional Standards for Teachers addressed in this task

1.2, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.6, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 4.1

Assessment will be marked against the following criteria:

●       Knowledge and understanding of the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics and critical curriculum knowledge that is needed support student understanding and skill development

●       Planning that aligns curriculum, teaching and learning, and assessment using knowledge of student learning and effective teaching and assessment strategies 

●       Use and justification of strategies and resources including ICTs to support the learning of mathematics and engagement of students from a range of ability levels, characteristics and experiential backgrounds.

●       Justification of pedagogical decision-making, content organisation, and resource selection for addressing common misconceptions and progress learning

●       Design of formative assessment techniques within lessons and the lesson sequence to providing ‘in the moment’ feedback and to inform future teaching.

●       Use of language conventions, clarity and conciseness of communication, and compliance with the APA Style Guide.