Mathematics in Education, Research and Applications (MERAA), 2025(11), 2
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Published online 2026-01-30
DOI:https://doi.org/10.15414/meraa.2025.11.02.74-84
On activating methods in mathematics education at university
Dana Országhová, Júlia Tomanová
Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Faculty of Economics and Management, Institute of Statistics, Operation Research and Mathematics, Slovak Republic; Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Informatics, Department of Informatics, Slovak Republic
Article Fulltext (PDF), pp. 74–84
- Activating teaching methods focus on student engagement, meaning that learning takes place through students’ own cognitive activity, independent thinking, and problem‑solving.
The aim of this research paper was to examine how additional mathematics tasks contribute to activating students in the acquisition of knowledge and skills, as well
as to improving their study outcomes. The research data were collected during a pedagogical experiment conducted in the course “Information Coding and Displaying”
during the 2023/2024 academic year. The research methodology was based on analysing the test scores of a control and an experimental group. Students’ activation
in the experimental group was promoted through additional mathematics tasks. Students in the control group were taught using the traditional method without
activation tasks. The collected test data were analysed using selected methods of mathematical statistics (t-test). Findings indicate a positive impact of
additional tasks on student activity in experimental group. The effectiveness of the implemented intervention was confirmed by t-test within the experimental
group, where students achieved significant improvement in solving tasks in the post-test. In addition, the t-test confirmed statistically significant differences
between the control and experimental groups, where the control group without additional tasks achieved better results in the post-test. Thus, the significant
effect of additional tasks was not confirmed between the groups.
- Keywords: activating methods, university education, mathematics, additional tasks, t-test
- JEL Classification: C50, D40, M10