Assessment 1: Literature Review and Evaluative Report on Current Research Literature and Practitioner Research (Critical Task)

Assessment type: Literature review and report

Word count/time limit: 2,000 words

Weighting: 40%

Assessment description 

This assessment task involves two linked parts: a literature review and an evaluative report. This assessment aims to develop and enhance research skills, and analysis and critical thinking. It will build your knowledge and understanding of current theories and innovations in your chosen specialisation. 

As a Critical Task, a 50% result in this assessment is required to pass the unit.

Assessment details

Part 1: Literature review (approx. 1000 words)

The literature review will take the form of an annotated bibliography on current research literature and practitioner research around a specific topic related to specialisation. 

For this task, you will compose a brief literature review of four key sources that summarise teaching and assessment approaches in your chosen specialisation (Mathematics and Numeracy), with reference to relevant theory and contemporary practitioner research.

Some guidelines on the annotated bibliography

Your bibliography should:

include an introduction and conclusion

include four references on your chosen topic

include current, relevant and credible research. The literature needs to be scholarly, peer-reviewed literature

compare or contrast the sources with other works you have cited, and explain how this source contributes to the research on your chosen topic

offer insight into why each source was chosen 

offer insight into reflective and independent thinking about the topic.

Other guidelines:

This is not an abstract, but an annotation – you need to critique the reference by critiquing the author’s point of view, authority, clarity of expression, and the intended audience. You need to take great care to reference this research using the correct APA 7 referencing system.

Part 2: Report (approx. 1,000 words)

From the literature, describe and critique two specific successful learning and teaching initiatives in your chosen specialisation in an early childhood school context in primary school. For each initiative:

Describe the educational contexts and learner characteristics.

Describe the teaching and learning strategies implemented: represent the initiative as a process diagram.

Identify the strategies for assessing student learning (including ICT-based) and interpreting student assessment data to evaluate growth in learning/achievement.

Analyse their efficacy with respect to extending student learning opportunities for students across the full range of abilities in the curriculum area.