Using Fuzzy Logic to Assess Studentsʼ Mathematical Knowledge

Assessing students’ mathematical knowledge informs students, educators, and parents about students’ mathematical competencies. In Italy, some students receive both written and oral grades in mathematics at the end of the first semester, which are then averaged for a final grade. The possibility of applying fuzzy logic, which has been widely used to deal with uncertain or verbal descriptions, to this process has not yet been explored extensively. In the present contribution, we consider a sample of N = 47 Italian high school students, and analyze two fuzzy combinations of their mathematics grades. Students’ hypothetical grades produced with the center-of-gravity defuzzification method are lower than students’ grades in their report cards, while the mean-of-maxima defuzzification method produced grades that are statistically higher than the students’ original grades. Implications are discussed, leading to suggestions for assessment research.