Using Examinations to Identify Learning Thresholds

Abstract

In this study we use written examinations to extract threshold
concepts in a Mathematics course. We gathered 50 exams from three
separate occasions, 150 in total, and proposed a simple method to identify the threshold concepts based on students' performance on the exam. As a proof of concept, we applied the proposed method on the case study to ascertain the validity of the proposed method. The results show that the proposed method can identify questions that have threshold concepts which were described as threshold concepts in previously published literature.