A system to determine if learners know the divisibility rules and apply them correctly

Abstract

Mathematics teachers may find it challenging to manage the learning that takes place in learners' minds. Typical true/false or multiple choice assessments, whether in oral, written or electronic format, do not provide evidence that learners applied the correct principles. A system was developed to analyse learners' gaze behaviour while they were determining whether a multi-digit dividend is divisible by a divisor. The system provides facilities for a teacher to set up tests and generate various types of quantitative and qualitative reports. The system was tested with a group of 16 learners from Grade 7 to Grade 10 in a pre-post experiment to investigate the effect of revision on their performance. It was proven that, with tests that are carefully compiled according to a set of heuristics, eye tracking can be used to determine whether learners use the correct strategy when applying divisibility rules.