Characteristics of Feedback that Influence Student Confidence and Performance during Mathematical Modeling

This study focuses on characteristics of written feedback that influence students’ performance and confidence in addressing the mathematical complexity embedded in a Model-Eliciting Activity (MEA). MEAs are authentic mathematical modeling problems that facilitate students’ iterative development of solutions in a realistic context. We analyzed 132 first-year engineering students’ confidence levels and mathematical model scores on aMEA(pre and post feedback), along with teaching assistant feedback given to the students. The findings show several examples of affective and cognitive feedback that students reported that they used to revise their models. Students’ performance and confidence in developing mathematical models can be increased when they are in an environment where they iteratively develop models based on effective feedback

Cathodal electrical stimulation of frontoparietal cortex disrupts statistical learning of visual configural information

Attentional performance is facilitated by exploiting regularities and redundancies in the environment by way of incidental statistical learning. For example, during visual search, response times to a target are reduced by repeating distractor configurations-a phenomenon known as contextual cueing (Chun & Jiang, 1998). A range of neuroscientific methods have provided evidence that incidental statistical learning relies on subcortical neural structures associated with long-term memory, such as the hippocampus. Functional neuroimaging studies have also implicated the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and posterior parietal cortex (PPC) in contextual cueing. However, the extent to which these cortical regions are causally involved in statistical learning remains unclear. Here, we delivered anodal, cathodal, or sham transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the left PFC and left PPC online while participants performed a contextual cueing task. Cathodal stimulation of both PFC and PPC disrupted the early cuing effect, relative to sham and anodal stimulation. These findings causally implicate frontoparietal regions in incidental statistical learning that acts on visual configural information. We speculate that contextual cueing may rely on the availability of cognitive control resources in frontal and parietal regions

Students’ Perceptions of and Responses to Teaching Assistant and Peer Feedback

Authentic open-ended problems are increasingly appearing in university classrooms at all levels. Formative feedback that leads to learning and improved student work products is a challenge, particularly in large enrollment courses. This is a case study of one first-year engineering student team’s experience with teaching assistant and peer feedback during a series of open-ended mathematical modeling problems called Model-Eliciting Activities. The goal of this study was to gain deep insight into the interactions between students, feedback providers, and written feedback by examining one team’s perceptions of the feedback they received and the changes they made to their solutions based on their feedback. The practical purpose of this work is to begin to make recommendations to improve students’ interactions with written feedback. The data sources consisted of individual student interviews, videos of the team’s meetings to revise their solutions, the team’s iteratively-developed solutions, the team’s documented changes to the their solutions, and the written feedback they received from their teaching assistant and peers. The students explained that helpful peer feedback requires a time commitment, focuses on the mathematical model, and goes beyond praise to prompt change. The students also stated that generic TA feedback was not helpful. The greatest difference between the students’ perceptions of TA and peer feedback was that the TA had influence over the team’s grade and therefore the TA feedback was deemed more important. Feedback strategies to increase peer participation and improve teaching assistant training are described. Suggestions for continued research on feedback are provided