Supplementary Private Tutoring and Mathematical Achievements in Higher Education: An Empirical Study on Linear Algebra

TL;DR

This empirical study evaluates the impact of short-term supplementary private tutoring on higher education students' mastery of linear algebra, revealing significant improvements in understanding and self-perception of achievements.

Contribution

It provides new evidence on the effectiveness of short-term private tutoring in higher education, contrasting it with primary and secondary school effects.

Findings

Short-term training significantly improves linear algebra mastery.

Students accurately perceive their mathematical achievements.

Effectiveness differs from private tutoring in lower education levels.

Abstract

The present article is an empirical study that investigates the learning situation of linear algebra. Research was performed among 60 science and engineering students from different universities in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Hubei, and Shandong who were taught by three mathematics teachers in the course of a 3-day short-term training consisting of 24 classes; following this, the effectiveness of short-term training for mathematics curriculum learning in higher education was evaluated based on the IRT measurement model. The results indicate that regardless of the difficulty of the test, short-term training significantly enhances students' mastery of linear algebra knowledge points, and students can accurately perceive their mathematical achievements; the effect observed is not consistent with that of private tutoring (PT) in primary and secondary schools.