Correlation between student performance in linear algebra and categories of a taxonomy

Reid, A; Petocz, P; Smith, GH; Wood, LN

Correlation between student performance in linear algebra and categories of a taxonomy

Reid, A Petocz, P Smith, GH Wood, LN

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Publisher:: John Wiley & Sons
Publication Type:: Conference
Citation:: Wood, L. et al. 2002 'Correlation between student performance in linear algebra and categories of a taxonomy', 2nd International Conference on the Teaching of Mathematics, John Wiley & Sons, University of Crete, Greece, pp. NA-NA.
Issue Date:: 2002

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Reid, A	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Petocz, P	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Smith, GH	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Wood, LN	en_US
dc.contributor.editor	Vakalis I	en_US
dc.date.accessioned	2009-11-09T02:47:19Z
dc.date.available	2009-11-09T02:47:19Z
dc.date.issued	2002	en_US
dc.identifier	2004003570	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Wood, L. et al. 2002 'Correlation between student performance in linear algebra and categories of a taxonomy', 2nd International Conference on the Teaching of Mathematics, John Wiley & Sons, University of Crete, Greece, pp. NA-NA.	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0-471-46332-9	en_US
dc.identifier.other	E1	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/2153
dc.description.abstract	This paper concerns a study of the performance of students in a recent linear algebra examination. We investigated differences in performance in tasks requiring understanding of the concepts with those that required only the use of routine procedures and factual recall. Central to this study was the use of a taxonomy, based on Bloom's Taxonomy, for characterising assessment tasks, which we have described in previous publications. The ful1 taxonomy has 8 categories, which fall into 3 broad groups. The first group (A) encompasses tasks which could be successfully done using a surface learning approach, while the other two (B and C) require a deeper learning approach for their successful completion. Tasks on the examination paper were put into one of the three groups and comparisons were made concerning the performance of individual students in each of these areas. There are several interesting areas to investigate. The first is to identify those students whose performance in group A was markedly different to their performance on groups B and C. There is considerable disquiet amongst mathematics lecturers at tertiary level as to the routine algebraic skills of incoming students and of students studying mathematics at university (see for example the ICMI Study into the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics at University Level, 2001). There is a conjecture that students who have poor technical skills are not able to succeed in university mathematics. The contrapositive conjecture that good technical skills (such as algebraic dexterity) are necessary for success in university mathematics is often taken for granted. The taxonomy allows us to test this hypothesis as we can compare performance in group A tasks (routine) with performance in higher level B and C tasks. We have also investigated whether or not the data supports any systematic effect of differences in sex or language background in the performance on the three groups. The sample contained a large cohort of students with who had a home language other than English. We tested the hypothesis that such students would have difficulty with the conceptual aspects of the course, since these normal1y require greater language facility. This proved not to be the case.	en_US
dc.publisher	John Wiley & Sons	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on the Teaching of Mathematics	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	2nd International Conference on the Teaching of Mathematics	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	http://www.math.uoc.gr/~ictm2/	en_US
dc.title	Correlation between student performance in linear algebra and categories of a taxonomy	en_US
dc.type	Conference
utslib.location	New Jersey, USA	en_US
utslib.citation.startpage	NA	en_US
utslib.citation.endpage	NA	en_US
utslib.identifier.org	Science	en_US
utslib.location.activity	University of Crete, Greece	en_US
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access

Abstract:

This paper concerns a study of the performance of students in a recent linear algebra examination. We investigated differences in performance in tasks requiring understanding of the concepts with those that required only the use of routine procedures and factual recall. Central to this study was the use of a taxonomy, based on Bloom's Taxonomy, for characterising assessment tasks, which we have described in previous publications. The ful1 taxonomy has 8 categories, which fall into 3 broad groups. The first group (A) encompasses tasks which could be successfully done using a surface learning approach, while the other two (B and C) require a deeper learning approach for their successful completion. Tasks on the examination paper were put into one of the three groups and comparisons were made concerning the performance of individual students in each of these areas. There are several interesting areas to investigate. The first is to identify those students whose performance in group A was markedly different to their performance on groups B and C. There is considerable disquiet amongst mathematics lecturers at tertiary level as to the routine algebraic skills of incoming students and of students studying mathematics at university (see for example the ICMI Study into the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics at University Level, 2001). There is a conjecture that students who have poor technical skills are not able to succeed in university mathematics. The contrapositive conjecture that good technical skills (such as algebraic dexterity) are necessary for success in university mathematics is often taken for granted. The taxonomy allows us to test this hypothesis as we can compare performance in group A tasks (routine) with performance in higher level B and C tasks. We have also investigated whether or not the data supports any systematic effect of differences in sex or language background in the performance on the three groups. The sample contained a large cohort of students with who had a home language other than English. We tested the hypothesis that such students would have difficulty with the conceptual aspects of the course, since these normal1y require greater language facility. This proved not to be the case.

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