Using a mixed methods approach, we explore a relationship between students' graph reasoning and graph selection via a fully online assessment. Our population includes 673 students enrolled in college algebra, an introductory undergraduate mathematics course, across four U.S. postsecondary institutions. The assessment is accessible on computers,…

One typical challenge in algebra education is that many students justify the equivalence of expressions only by referring to transformation rules that they perceive as arbitrary without being able to justify these rules. A good algebraic understanding involves connecting the transformation rules to other characterizations of equivalence of…

This paper focuses on the emergence of abstraction through the use of a new kind of motion detector--WiiGraph--with 11-year-old children. In the selected episodes, the children used this motion detector to create three simultaneous graphs of position vs. time: two graphs for the motion of each hand and a third one corresponding to their…

Students in secondary school often struggle with symbol sense, that is, the general ability to deal with symbols and to recognize the structure of algebraic formulas. Fostering symbol sense is an educational challenge. In graphing formulas by hand, defined as graphing using recognition and reasoning without technology, many aspects of symbol sense…

Algebra has been explicit in many school curriculum programs from the early years but there are competing views on what content and approaches are appropriate for different levels of schooling. This study investigated 12-13-year-old Australian students' algebraic thinking in a hybrid environment of functional and equation-based approaches to…

A teaching experiment-using Mathematica to investigate the convergence of sequence of functions visually as a sequence of objects (graphs) converging onto a fixed object (the graph of the limit function)-is here used to analyze how the approach can support the dynamic blending of visual and symbolic representations that has the potential to lead…

From preliminary analysis of teacher-nominated examples of successful technology-supported practice in secondary-school mathematics, the use of graphing software to teach about algebraic forms was identified as being an important archetype. Employing evidence from lesson observation and teacher interview, such practice was investigated in greater…

The integration of history into educational practice can lead to the development of activities through the use of genetic "moments" in the history of mathematics. In the present paper, we utilize Oresme's genetic ideas--developed during the fourteenth century, including ideas on the velocity-time graphical representation as well as geometric…

Presents evidence that there exists much confusion regarding the connection between the algebraic and geometric aspects of slope, scale, and angle. Participants responded to a simple but non-standard task concerning the behavior of slope under a non-homogeneous change of scale. Analysis of the responses reveals two main approaches termed…

The Czechoslovakian Academy of Sciences is sponsoring an experimental approach to the modernization of the geometry curriculum. Geometry is viewed as ancillary to other parts of the curriculum and is taught as appropriate to other subjects (e.g., algebra). Combinatorial geometry is taught formally. (SD)

Reports on a case study of a 16-year-old student working on transformations of functions in a computer-based, multirepresentational environment. Presents an analysis of the work during the transition from the use of visualization and analysis of discrete points to the use of algebraic symbolism. (AIM)

Identified and classified solution strategies of (n=49) 10th-grade students who were presented with linear programming problems in a predominantly visual setting in the form of a computerized game. Visual strategies were developed more frequently than either algebraic or mixed strategies. Appendix includes questionnaires. (Contains 11 references.)…