A Study of the Effectiveness of Supplemental Instruction on Developmental Math Students in Higher Education Page: 64
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not understand, and demonstrated a frustration or resignation to failure. It is
believed that this reinforced the passivity of the learner and lessened future
efforts to be successful. When students spent time in SI examining errors,
they were able to understand the exact nature of their mistakes, and
frequently this lessened their sense of being inadequate. The expressed
awareness that their mistakes were simply due to carelessness, a failure to
complete the problem, or a misunderstanding of what was asked seemed to
alleviate their belief that they did not understand. This realization that an
error was not caused by lack of understanding of content was observed to
instill a type of self-confidence in the students.
As sessions progressed through the semester, changes could be observed
not only in the verbal participation of the students but in the written work as
well. In the beginning, problem-solving was usually done by the students in
very deliberate steps with only one procedure being utilized in a solution line.
After two months, some students were observed performing multiple
operations in one line of problem solving. An example of this was regrouping
and moving decimal places simultaneously.
As students firmly grasped concepts, they often developed individual
shortcuts. When a shortened process was observed, the leader frequently
asked the students to explain the rationale. As a rule, they were unable to do
this initially, but when individuals were pressed for an explanation and had
difficulty, the group would often join in supportive participation. It was
observed that instructors often explain a procedure in detail and then offer a
shortcut which simplifies the process. Examples of this can be found in
cancellation in fraction multiplication or reduction, regrouping terms in
relation to an equality sign, or multiplying or dividing by powers of ten. As
this observer watched the developmental students work through various
problems on a number of topics, it became evident that at some point in
comprehension, a student would discover a shortcut. Each had his own
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Stephens, Jan (Jan Ellen). A Study of the Effectiveness of Supplemental Instruction on Developmental Math Students in Higher Education, dissertation, May 1995; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc279019/m1/73/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .