When we Grade Students’ Proofs, Do They Understand our Feedback?

Robert C. Moore, Martha Byrne, Sarah Hanusch, Timothy Fukawa-Connelly

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Instructors often write feedback on students’ proofs even if there is no expectation for the students to revise and resubmit the work. It is not known, however, what students do with that feedback or if they understand the professor’s intentions. To this end, we asked eight advanced mathematics undergraduates to respond to professor comments on four written proofs by interpreting and implementing the comments. We analyzed the student’s responses using the categories of corrective feedback for language acquisition, viewing the language of mathematical proof as a register of academic English.
Original languageAmerican English
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 19th Annual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education
EditorsTim Fukawa-Connelly, Nicole Engelko Infante, Megan Wawro, Stacy Brown
Place of PublicationPittsburg, PA
PublisherSpecial Interest Group of the Mathematics Association of America (SIGMAA) for Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education
Pages310-324
StatePublished - 2016

Keywords

  • Proof Writing
  • Proof Grading
  • Proof Instruction
  • Proof Revision
  • Student Thinking

Disciplines

  • Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research
  • Educational Methods
  • Science and Mathematics Education

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