The Shodor Education Foundation and the Computational Science Education Reference Desk (CSERD) have released a new set of tools to help teachers and students use a more dynamic approach to assess student achievement in math skills. The Interactivate Assessment Toolkit includes more than 50 Explorers, Games, and Quizzes that allow students to tailor their assessment activity by selecting a problem type, level of difficulty, and allowed time for solution. These assessment tools also keep score, so students will be able to track their progress as they improve their computation skills and basic understanding of math concepts.

The Assessment Toolkit takes popular Interactivate activities and adds features that let the user keep track of correct responses. Some of the activities also allow users to select difficulty levels, choose specific problem types, and set a time limit. This allows users to tailor the assessment to their abilities. The Connect Four type games are designed for two players; other activities are designed for individual work. For example, the activity “Shape Builder” (shown here) encourages users to explore relationships between area and perimeter.