Evaluating the Differences in Students' Performance and Retention for Mathematics Skills Given Various Forms of Feedback

• In Event: Bridging Research and Practice: Findings From the National Center on Cognition and Mathematics Instruction

Abstract

Previous feedback studies have established that immediate, formative feedback is beneficial for learning and retaining mathematics skills. Less is indicated in the literature about what specific types of feedback provide greater benefit, and for which students learning which kinds of mathematical concepts and skills. This poster reviews a study that examines differential benefits provided by four different modes of feedback during skills practice among middle grades students. Using the online ASSISTments platform, a program of spaced practice was developed for four categories of mathematics skills that students had ostensibly mastered in previous grades. Students followed a practice scheme that employed one of four different modes of feedback/support for each skill category: 1) correctness only, 2) voluntary access to conceptual and procedural hints, 3) a text-based worked example of a similar problem provided after an incorrect response, and 4) a video-based worked example of a similar problem provided after an incorrect response. A mixed design was used where students were randomly assigned into one of four groups, each of which practiced the four skill categories in a configuration that matched skill categories to feedback condition uniquely for each group. Each student then followed a practice scheme (3 total iterations, spaced 28 days apart) for each skill category, in which they attempted problems until they attained “mastery” by answering three items correctly in a row. For each skill category, a pretest was administered prior to the first practice session, and a posttest was administered approximately 10 weeks after the last practice session.

The analysis of performance consists of analyzing primary effects and interactions among Skill Category, Feedback Condition, and Test variables to determine the relative effects of spacing schemes on retention of previously mastered skills. Thus far, significant main effects of Test (Pre, Post) have been obtained for all skill categories and feedback conditions, indicating that practice schemes and feedback across all of these forms are beneficial for students as they practice previously encountered skills. Further analyses are focusing on deeper investigation of the overall benefits of feedback, including for which students (in terms of levels of initial mastery) the benefit of feedback is greatest. Analysis will also investigate any differential benefits among the four feedback conditions, including how benefits of particular types of feedback may vary depending on initial skill difficulty and the stability of students’ previous level of mastery in a particular skill category. As ASSISTments also provides detailed data on how students engaged with the skills during practice and feedback (e.g., time on task, amount of feedback encountered, number of tries to correctness), we will explore these data as a way to further analyze main effects and interactions found in the primary analysis.

Authors

• Timothy Matthew Stoelinga, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Deena Soffer Goldstein, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Cristina Heffernan, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

• James W. Pellegrino, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Susan R. Goldman, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Neil T. Heffernan, Worcester Polytechnic Institute