Diagnostic Pretest

Rachel Volk
C&T 543
Diagnostic Pretest
Unit: Inequalities and Absolute Value
Grade/Class: 8th grade, Compacted 8th Math and Algebra, Southwest Middle School, Lawrence, KS
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1st hour: 27 students

2nd hour: 25 students
Taken on: October 5th, 2015

KCCRS Standard:
High School: Algebra

o Reasoning with Equations and Inequalities A-REI
Solve equations and inequalities in one variable.
3. Solve linear equations and inequalities in one variable, including
equations with coefficients represented by letters.
th
6 grade
o The Number System 6.NS
Apply and extend previous understandings of numbers to the system of
rational numbers.
7. Understand ordering and absolute value of rational numbers.
c. Understand the absolute value of a rational number as its
distance from 0 on the number line; interpret absolute value as
magnitude for a positive or negative quantity in a real-world
situation. For example, for an account balance of 30 dollars, write
|30| = 30 to describe the size of the debt in dollars.
Analysis:
For my analysis, I looked through the pretests and categorized the students work as high,
normal, or below. I separated their work into three sections: inequality, absolute value, and
explanation for absolute value. I did have an additional section on if the students showed their
work, which because they have Mrs. Gabel as their teacher, they always show their work with
one except of a student who just got moved to her classroom that week.
First, the inequality section was quite different for the two classes. 1st hour has more accelerated
7th graders than 2nd hour does, therefore, in the inequality section 1st hours rating had more high
level than 2nd hour. With a normal level of knowledge, the students were able to solve the
multistep equation with the inequality sign, in below they either solved incorrectly or forgot the
inequality sign, and in high the students knew to switch their inequality sign when they multiply
Rachel Volk
C&T 543
or divide by a negative number. 1st hour was approximately half and half between high and
normal, with a minimal amount of below. 2nd hour had approximately the same amount of
minimal students scoring in high and below, with the majority of students falling in then normal
category. I expected this to be the outcome, with the majority of students falling in normal or
high, because in the normal section they were able to solve the multistep equation which the
students had just taken a test over.
For the absolute value section, normal meant that they solved it like a regular equation, in below
they could not correctly solve the equation, and in high the student was able to branch the
absolute value equation into to mini equations. I used the absolute value explanation with
normal focusing on something like how far a number is away from zero, and the high level
said the word, distance when describing absolute value. All but one or two in both of the
classes fell into the normal level with solving the absolute value equations. The absolute value
explanations were actually even among both classes between high, normal, and below. Because
of the way I set up the scale, most students should have been in the normal level, even if they had
no idea of what absolute value is because they will assume to treat it as a parentheses or simply
not pay attention to it. Some of the below explanations described inequalities instead of absolute
value which leads me to believe that they did not read the question.
According to this information, the students need to spend more time on absolute value than
inequalities because it is a topic and symbol that they do not understand as well, or have not been
introduced to yet.
Pretest influence on instruction:
From this information, my students need to spend more time on absolute value and be taken
through an explanation of what it means and when it is used. I will make sure to key in that
absolute value must always be positive, which some of them wrote about, and that it represents a
distance, which all distances must be positive, proving the first part of the definition. Also, they
need to be reminded of its qualities, like you cannot distribute into the absolute value and you
must get the absolute value alone first then you can break it into mini equations if possible. With
inequalities, I think they understand the basics of it, though I do not know if they can graph
inequalities yet. I will emphasize that when multiplying or dividing by a negative number that
the sign must be switched. I think I should come up with a way to represent this visually, or
have them check their equations without switching the sign and see that it does not mean the
same thing as the original inequality. Once we have mastered both of these topics I can go on to
teach absolute value inequalities. I believe if they have mastered absolute value and inequalities
separately they will feel more confident to take on absolute value inequalities, instead of being
overwhelmed by the amount of foreign signs all at once.

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Rachel Volk

1st hour: 27 students

Taken on: October 5th, 2015

High School: Algebra

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