Visual representations, such as diagrams, are known to be valuable tools in problem solving and proof construction. However, previous studies have shown that simply having access to a diagram is not sufficient to improve students' performance on mathematical tasks. Rather, students must actively extract information about the problem scenario from…

Many students struggle with proof writing. However, struggle is not universally bad: researchers have distinguished between productive and unproductive forms of struggle and have identified productive struggle as essential for learning mathematics. Yet, in practice, recognizing when learners are engaged in productive struggle or unproductive…

Example use in undergraduate mathematics has been extensively studied. However, little is known about undergraduates' example use in the context of introductory point-set topology. We present a case study of one undergraduate and describe her example use when constructing proofs in the context of introductory topology. We describe her use of a…