Attitudes of Mathematics and Science Educators towards Mistake and Instant Feedback

Abstract

Problem Statement: The quality of teaching mathematics and science mostly depends on the teachers’ competencies. One of them is given feedbacks on mistakes instantly. Instant feedback is some kind of feedback given to a student in the classroom setting whenever a mistake occurs. In a student-centered environment mistakes are a starting point for learning; a change to construct new knowledge or describe the misconceptions. Therefore studies about the mistake and instant feedback must do. Besides, to improve teachers’ feedback ability it is necessary to compare applications. 

Purpose of the Study: Attitudes affect implementations therefore to improve instant feedback applications it is necessary to understand attitudes. The purpose of the research is to describe and compare the attitudes of mathematicians and scientists towards mistakes and instant feedback. 

Method: The present study is a relational study with a descriptive pattern aimed to describe the relationship between mathematics teachers/ academicians’ and science teachers/ academicians’ attitudes mistake-instant feedback. "Attitude Scale of Mathematics and Science Teachers towards Mistake and Instant Feedback to the Mistake (MST-AS)” (Resercher) were used as data collection tools. Data was collected from 398 mathematics and science teachers/academicians teaching at public elementary, secondary schools or universities. Validity and ratability studies were made with SPSS 25.0 package program. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-Test and The One Way ANOVA.

Findings and Results: The results of the study revealed that there are not statistically differences between mathematics and science teachers'/academicians’ attitudes about giving feedback to the mistakes. Both of them have positive attitudes. Additionally, there is not a statistically significant difference according to age, professional seniority gender level of education level.  

Conclusions and Recommendations: There is no statistically significant difference between the groups according to their professions. There is no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of education levels. There is no statistically significant difference between the groups depending on their gender.

Cronbach Alpha coefficient of the scale was found to be .871. In the sub-dimensions, the Cronbach Alpha coefficient of the scale was .861 for external factors. It was found to be .858 for internal factors. The Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient for the whole scale and the subscales and the correlation coefficients between the subscales indicate the reliability of the scale.