Open Mathematical Education Notes

57 – 64

Authors: Daniel A. Romano and Susanne Strachota

In this paper we present the results of student testing, from two technical colleges at Banja Luka University, on understanding and applying the logical implication and its contraposive in a realworld situation. The findings support our belief that the tested population has insufficient knowledge of these logical concepts. Furthermore, we argue that these results could reveal the critical link between conceptual and procedural knowledge of these logical tools

107-113

Authors: Susanne Strachota, Daniel A. Romano and Sergei Abramovich

The authors analyzed results of entrance exams for Banja Luka University in the Republic of Srpska. Twelve exams were administered from 2012 to 2015 and designed to assess the mathematical proficiency of candidates for admission to the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. The authors conducted further examination of the 280 tasks using Bloom’s [5] and MATH [29] taxonomies, and Thompson’s multi-dimensional approach [4, 31]. The analysis is aimed at understanding the mathematical proficiencies of the tested candidates, as an almost-representative population of high school graduates in the Republic of Srpska. Currently, no data or means of obtaining data on the mathematical proficiency of high school graduates in the Republic of Srpska exists. Thus, the results are a critical first step towards conducting research that would provide this information. Such information has implications for secondary and post-secondary mathematics instruction in the Republic of Srpska.