Review article 65
Hargreaves, Melame., et al. 2004. Computer or paper? That is the question: Does
the medium in which assessment questions are presented affect children’s
performance in mathematics? Educational Research, 46 (1), 29-42.
This article examines English children’s performance on a computer mathematics
assessment compared with a pencil-and-paper assessment. Four assessments, two
mathematics pencil-and-paper tests (P 1 and P 2) and two computers tests (C 1 and C 2),
were used in the study. The computer tests were identical to the pencil-and-paper tests in
every way other than the medium. A sample of 260, 10 year old children was used in the
study. Results show that each sample had a higher mean score on the computer than they
did on the pencil-and-paper tests. This implies that the children in this study performed
better using the computer medium of the assessment. The computer tests were found to
have an overall positive effect on children’s performance, although not for every child
and, in some instances, the computer assessment limited the way in which a question
could be answered. The authors argue that previous computer use did not appear to affect
performance on the computer medium. They suggest that if computers are to be used for
providing more interesting and dynamic assessment, then care must be taken to ensure
questions are specifically written for and tested in this medium to alert test developers to
potential problems.
Keywords: Computer mathematics assessment; England;