Multiple representations and explanations of math concepts aid student understanding, but faculty lack time to source or develop them¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · qualitativer2·q2
Currency · newest study 2025 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q2 i? Using visuals, video, and text to represent concepts helps students establish understanding, while faculty often lack time to create or source representationally rich resources. → Higgin 2025
Evidence¶
Higgin 2025¶
Higgin, T., Holl-Cross, C., Moorjani, A., & Edwards, A., with Cornfield, O., Eisen, S., Hosie, L., McNamara, H., Ray, D., & Tsinnajinnie, B. (2025). Faculty and student perspectives on gateway math courses and courseware. WestEd. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED677594
q2 · i? · qualitative · r2
Secondary qualitative finding from the gateway math faculty and student study. The report states that "Providing students with different representations and explanations of math concepts aids their understanding" but faculty time is limited.
"Providing students with different representations and explanations of math concepts aids their understanding, but faculty often lack the time to source or develop a wide range of high-quality explanatory resources."
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Students want ongoing targeted formative feedback, but faculty time constraints and large class sizes limit providing it — related
- A WestEd research bulletin reports a curriculum revision that replaced a decorative photograph in a math problem with a problem-relevant sketch, on the developers' view that such photographs distract students — related
- Multiple representations improve learning — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
- The range of multiplatform activity types and multiple representations of NGSS-aligned concepts engaged students with different learning preferences and abilities — related
- A systematic review argues that concrete materials aid mathematics and science learning when they are explicitly and gradually connected to the abstract symbols they represent — related
- Multimedia Principle Improves Learning — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
- Embedded aids address the content-area reading problem by helping weak readers read textual material and helping effective readers transfer training across disciplines, via a running commentary explaining key concepts, terminology, and questions. — related
- Redundancy Effect Impairs Learning — related
- Concept mapping improves learning over most comparison conditions by a moderate average amount, but not over time-matched retrieval practice — related
- Students and faculty value real-world examples in gateway math, but limited resources and training often lead to procedural instruction — related
- Gateway math students benefit from a balance of social, active learning and independent practice, but faculty constraints limit active learning — related
- A narrative review cites one study in which simultaneous notes, worked example and explanation aided understanding, and another in which temporally contiguous instruction lowered perceived cognitive load — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
multiple-representations-aid-understanding-faculty-time |
title |
Multiple representations and explanations of math concepts aid student understanding, but faculty lack time to source or develop them |
description |
Multiple representations and explanations of math concepts aid student understanding, but faculty lack time to source or develop them |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
weak |
newest_evidence |
2025 |
source_checked |
2026-10-20 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-10 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — higgin-2025 |
Frontmatter is the page's machine-readable record — see the Schema & Guide.