From Performance to Perception: A Laboratory-Based Task to Detect Changes in Students' Perception of Math Equivalence in Technology Interventions

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 9
  In Roundtable Session: Motivational and Cognitive Processes in Mathematics Across Secondary School and College

Abstract

This study examines the impact of two technology interventions on students’ abilities to detect mathematical equivalence. 475 students were randomly assigned to a perceptual-based math game or traditional online problem sets. Students completed four 30-minute intervention sessions using their assigned technology, and the laboratory-based Perceptual Math Equivalence Task at pretest and posttest. The task measured students’ ability to quickly perceive equivalent expressions. We found that, (a) students improved on the Perceptual Math Equivalence Task from pretest to posttest, (b) students’ posttest scores did not differ by intervention condition, and (c) the Pretest × Condition interaction was not significant. This work serves as a foundation for examining the pathways through which perceptual interventions, like FH2T, improve students’ algebra learning.

Authors

• Jenny Yun-Chen Chan, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

• Avery Harrison Closser, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

• Vy Ngo, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

• Hannah Smith, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

• Erin R Ottmar, Worcester Polytechnic Institute