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The evaluation in mathematics from a constructivist perspective and competency based education: reflection on university education in Colombia
The purpose of this article is to conduct a bibliographic review on mathematics assessment in the context of higher education in Colombia. It is carried out based on the worldviews of constructivist approaches and competency-based training, as frameworks that guide contemporary teaching, learning, and assessment practices. It identifies advances, challenges in assessment practices, and their impact on university education. This is done with the support of a critical examination of academic literature and classical theory. To do so, it is necessary to start with the recognition that assessment, beyond being a grading mechanism, constitutes a fundamental pedagogical process for the comprehensive development of competencies. The methodology underlying the review is documentary analysis, exploring the literature on Colombian higher education. It also addresses aspects such as the relevance of learning assessment instruments, the relationship between theory and practice, the role of feedback in knowledge construction, and the curricular gaps that reinforce traditional education and impede competency-based training, while perpetuating traditional assessment models focused on memorization and standardized testing.
This review concludes by highlighting the need to strengthen an assessment culture consistent with mathematical constructivism, competency-based learning for the development of different types of contextualized thinking through mathematical modeling in students' professional lives, and formative assessment as a promoter of student reflection and participation in their learning process. This contribution seeks to generate academic debate and pave the way for more contextualized, comprehensive, critical, and transformative assessment practices in the teaching of mathematics in higher education in the country.
