The intricacies of assessing an academic thesis

What is it about?

Thesis authors have the daunting task of convincing thesis examiners of their grasp of the scientific processes necessary to make their findings or ideas acceptable to the scientific fraternity at large. In this assessment context, thesis examiners are perceived as the "more knowledgeable other," but it requires a great deal of assessment and communication competency to get through to the authors, who are normally confident of the viability of their thesis work. In this case study, we go behind the scenes and provide a glimpse of the intricacies of the examiners' assessment process.

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Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

Why is it important?

We provide aspects considered important in assessing these in mathematics education. We provide a glimpse into the examiners' thought processes, and in the process, we help thesis authors interpret typical examiners' feedback comments. Significantly, the study indicates that pre-service teachers' students have issues with knowledge integration and transformation. Given the importance of knowledge transformation and integration in the teaching process, the question is then how the notion of "teacher as researcher" can be promoted in teacher education.

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