Delineating Aspects of Understanding Eigentheory through Assessment Development

Overview & Synopsis

In this report, we share insights we have gained from developing an assessment for documenting students' understanding of eigentheory. We explain the literature and theory that influenced the assessment's development and share question examples. We frame our results in terms of three eigentheory settings (Ax = λx, (A - λI)x = 0, and eigenspaces) and four interpretations (numeric, algebraic, geometric, and verbal). Results from our analysis include students' reasoning being influenced by setting, insights into students' struggle with understanding eigenspaces, and the importance of making connections between and across various interpretations.