View in EDS

Analysis of students' knowledge in relation to the factorial.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Title: Analysis of students' knowledge in relation to the factorial.
Authors: Thomas, Charlott1 (AUTHOR) charlott.thomas@uni-potsdam.de, Kapp, Felix2 (AUTHOR), Pöhler, Birte1 (AUTHOR)
Source: Frontiers in Education. 2026, p1-15. 15p.
Subject Terms: *Curriculum, *Teaching methods, *Educational attainment, *Cognitive Strategy Instruction, *Mathematics education, Factorials, Combinatorics
Geographic Terms: Germany
Abstract: This study investigates students' knowledge of the factorial at the end of their school career (aged 17–18), as the factorial represents a central combinatorial idea. Therefore, 161 students were given tasks designed to assess different aspects of their factorial knowledge: interpreting the exclamation mark in factorial notation (primarily factual knowledge), solving combinatorial tasks (primarily procedural knowledge), and formulating their own word problems (primarily conceptual knowledge). Furthermore, it is well known that mathematical performance differs across school types (Gymnasium and Gesamtschule in Germany) and course types (basic course and advanced course). To investigate whether these differences can also be observed in the domain of combinatorics, this study compares students from different school types and different types of courses regarding their success in solving the tasks. Our study confirms that many students struggle with tasks involving factorials and shows that performance depends strongly on the types of school and course. These findings highlight the importance of developing instructional approaches tailored to specific student groups that aim to enhance students' comprehensive understanding of factorials and combinatorics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Frontiers in Education is the property of Frontiers Media S.A. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Education Research Complete
FullText Text:
  Availability: 0
Header DbId: ehh
DbLabel: Education Research Complete
An: 193564885
AccessLevel: 6
PubType: Academic Journal
PubTypeId: academicJournal
PreciseRelevancyScore: 0
IllustrationInfo
Items – Name: Title
  Label: Title
  Group: Ti
  Data: Analysis of students' knowledge in relation to the factorial.
– Name: Author
  Label: Authors
  Group: Au
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Thomas%2C+Charlott%22">Thomas, Charlott</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> charlott.thomas@uni-potsdam.de</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Kapp%2C+Felix%22">Kapp, Felix</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Pöhler%2C+Birte%22">Pöhler, Birte</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)
– Name: TitleSource
  Label: Source
  Group: Src
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Frontiers+in+Education%22">Frontiers in Education</searchLink>. 2026, p1-15. 15p.
– Name: Subject
  Label: Subject Terms
  Group: Su
  Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Curriculum%22">Curriculum</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teaching+methods%22">Teaching methods</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Educational+attainment%22">Educational attainment</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Cognitive+Strategy+Instruction%22">Cognitive Strategy Instruction</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Mathematics+education%22">Mathematics education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Factorials%22">Factorials</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Combinatorics%22">Combinatorics</searchLink>
– Name: SubjectGeographic
  Label: Geographic Terms
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Germany%22">Germany</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: This study investigates students' knowledge of the factorial at the end of their school career (aged 17–18), as the factorial represents a central combinatorial idea. Therefore, 161 students were given tasks designed to assess different aspects of their factorial knowledge: interpreting the exclamation mark in factorial notation (primarily factual knowledge), solving combinatorial tasks (primarily procedural knowledge), and formulating their own word problems (primarily conceptual knowledge). Furthermore, it is well known that mathematical performance differs across school types (Gymnasium and Gesamtschule in Germany) and course types (basic course and advanced course). To investigate whether these differences can also be observed in the domain of combinatorics, this study compares students from different school types and different types of courses regarding their success in solving the tasks. Our study confirms that many students struggle with tasks involving factorials and shows that performance depends strongly on the types of school and course. These findings highlight the importance of developing instructional approaches tailored to specific student groups that aim to enhance students' comprehensive understanding of factorials and combinatorics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
  Group: Ab
  Data: <i>Copyright of Frontiers in Education is the property of Frontiers Media S.A. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=ehh&AN=193564885
RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Identifiers:
      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.3389/feduc.2026.1678978
    Languages:
      – Code: eng
        Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 15
        StartPage: 1
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Curriculum
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Teaching methods
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Educational attainment
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Cognitive Strategy Instruction
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Mathematics education
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Factorials
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Combinatorics
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Germany
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Analysis of students' knowledge in relation to the factorial.
        Type: main
  BibRelationships:
    HasContributorRelationships:
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Thomas, Charlott
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Kapp, Felix
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Pöhler, Birte
    IsPartOfRelationships:
      – BibEntity:
          Dates:
            – D: 07
              M: 05
              Text: 2026
              Type: published
              Y: 2026
          Identifiers:
            – Type: issn-print
              Value: 2504284X
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: Frontiers in Education
              Type: main
ResultId 1