Influence of a function's coefficients and feedback of the mathematical work when reading a graph in an online assessment system

TL;DR

This study investigates how the coefficients of affine functions and feedback influence students' strategies when reading graphs in an online assessment, revealing that these factors affect their mathematical approach and perception.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence on how coefficient types and targeted feedback impact students' graph reading strategies in online assessments.

Findings

Coefficient nature affects students' estimation or calculation strategies.

Feedback towards estimation influences students' mathematical work.

A significant group persists in calculation strategy despite feedback.

Abstract

This paper shows the results of an experiment applied to 170 students from two Chilean universities who solve a task about reading a graph of an affine function in an online assessment environment where the parameters (coefficients of the graphed affine function) are randomly defined from an ad-hoc algorithm, with automatic correction and automatic feedback. We distinguish two versions: one of them with integer coefficients and the other one with decimal coefficients in the affine function. We observed that the nature of the coefficients impacts the mathematical work used by the students, where we again focus on two of them: by direct estimation from the graph or by calculating the equation of the line. On the other hand, a feedback oriented towards the "estimation" strategy influences the mathematical work used by the students, even though a non-negligible group persists in the "calculating" strategy, which is partly explained by the perception of each of the strategies.