Informal writing-to-learn as a dimension of a student profile

In this paper an aspect (student questioning) of a pedagogical model of writing-to-learn will be explored. It will be shown that the task of keeping a journal (as defined within the model) has two salient assessment features: The journals differentiate between students at a particular grade level; and, they show a growth in sophistication over successive years. These two features of writing-to-learn recommend its use as a dimension for profiling students' progress in learning mathematics. It will be argued that profiles developed from journal writing enrich the picture of the student as learner.