A Glimpse into Secondary Students' Understanding of Functions

Autor/inn/en	Brendefur, Jonathan L.; Hughes, Gwyneth; Ely, Robert
Titel	A Glimpse into Secondary Students' Understanding of Functions
Quelle	In: International Journal for Mathematics Teaching and Learning, (2015), (22 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1473-0111
Schlagwörter	Secondary School Students; Knowledge Level; Mathematics Instruction; Mathematical Concepts; Models; Middle School Students; Generalization; Prediction; Mathematics Skills; Algebra; Calculus; Secondary School Mathematics; Correlation; Mathematical Logic; Interviews; High School Students; Junior High School Students + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Sekundarschüler; Wissensbasis; Mathematics lessons; Mathematikunterricht; Analogiemodell; Middle school; Middle schools; Student; Students; Mittelschule; Mittelstufenschule; Schüler; Schülerin; Vorhersage; Mathmatics achievement; Mathematics ability; Mathematische Kompetenz; Analysis; Differenzialrechnung; Infinitesimalrechnung; Integralrechnung; Korrelation; Mathematical logics; Mathematische Logik; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; High school; High schools; Oberschule; Studentin; Junior High Schools; Sekundarstufe I
Abstract	In this article we examine how secondary school students think about functional relationships. More specifically, we examined seven students' intuitive knowledge in regards to representing two real-world situations with functions. We found students do not tend to represent functional relationships with coordinate graphs even though they are able to do so. Instead, these students tend to represent the physical characteristics of the situation. In addition, we discovered that middle-school students had sophisticated ideas of dependency and covariance. All the students were able to use their models of the situation to generalize and make predictions. These findings suggest that secondary students have the ability to describe covariant and dependent relations and that their models of functions tend to be more intuitive than mathematical--even for the students in algebra II and calculus. Our work suggests a possible framework that begins describing a way of analyzing students' understanding of functions. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching. 5th Floor Rolle Building, Faculty of Education University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, UK. Tel: +44-1752-585346; Fax: +44-1752-585344; e-mail: feedback@cimt.org.uk; Web site: http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/journal/
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01