This report presents the effects on learning of an instructional design for teaching the role of Mathematical Symbol Systems (MSS) in a first year college Linear Algebra course. based on feedback to students regarding their performance in tasks consisting of solving exercises. To complement it, a study is also described of the impact of this intervention on the performance of students in a calculus course. An experimental design was used with an experimental group (EG) and a control (CG), with initial and final tests to evaluate performance. Students were classified based on the initial test into two categories (high rating - low rating), and it was established that the high rating students of the EG scored significantly higher in the final test performance than those of the CG (Mann-Whitney test was used). No differences were detected between subgroups of low rating groups. EG members had significantly higher scores than those of CG in Calculus's tasks (we used a Student's t test). These results suggest the design can be used with groups of students with high initial rating, while posing the problem of finding alternative strategies to teach students with low initial rating.
Learning; Mathematical Symbol Systems (MSS); Linear Algebra; Calculus
