Some comments on the assessment of students’ knowledge at the University

Abstract

This article is devoted to the study and modeling of the process of acquiring knowledge by students at the University. The main task of the work is the construction process of acquiring knowledge by a student and its analysis to determine an individual approach to the student. This paper considers the simplest case of the construction of the process of knowledge acquisition by students, which leads to the initial description of the process of knowledge acquisition. The description of the process of acquiring knowledge and the control scheme of its variables are considered.The initial data for the task will be the results of student surveys, conducted throughout the semester in some groups. The training sample was obtained as a result of such surveys for each student.This sample was used to construct a model for obtaining knowledge by the student. From a mathematical point of view, such a problem is close to the task of reconstructing a function from observations.Two approaches exist for solving this problem: parametric and nonparametric. The parametric approach consists in choosing the form of the function up to a vector of parameters and the subsequent evaluation of these coefficients by a training sample. Thus, a certain equation will correspond to each student of the group and equation will differ from others by its coefficients. A nonparametric approach does not require preliminary parametrization of the model, and needs only some qualitative properties of the latter. This follows from the fact that nonparametric approximations belong to the class of local.Therefore, each student at the end of the experiment will have his curve of the process of acquiring knowledge, and accordingly his own equation of the educational process (a kind of a “visiting card” at the moment). Of course, the learning process for each student will be different, despite the fact that studying a new discipline starts at the same time. So, more diligent and interested in teaching students start studying the material as it is received, while others stretch the process until the end of the semester. The paper compares and analyzes of the process of acquiring knowledge for students of different levels (successful, intermediate and unsuccessful level of students’ knowledge).Thus, in the analysis process of the student “visiting card” we can see as students acquire the knowledge. In this article the modeling of the process of knowledge acquisition among students at the University is considered from a general point of view. Of course, it is important to develop education indicators, their analysis and evaluation. These sets of indicators help us to see how students study at Universities, and possibly find weaknesses, gaps in knowledge that need to be corrected.Also analyzing the similar “visiting card” of a student, the lecturer can correct your individual approach to his learning.

Keywords

• knowledge
• the process of acquiring knowledge by students
• mathematical modeling