Premium
David's Understanding of Functions and Periodicity
Author(s) -
Gerson Hope
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
school science and mathematics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.135
H-Index - 2
eISSN - 1949-8594
pISSN - 0036-6803
DOI - 10.1111/j.1949-8594.2008.tb17937.x
Subject(s) - precalculus , mathematics education , class (philosophy) , representation (politics) , notation , flexibility (engineering) , function (biology) , psychology , algebra over a field , cognitive science , calculus (dental) , computer science , mathematics , pure mathematics , artificial intelligence , arithmetic , medicine , statistics , dentistry , evolutionary biology , politics , political science , law , biology
This is a study of David, a senior enrolled in a high school precalculus course. David's understandings of functions and periodicity was explored, through clinical interviews and contextualized through classroom observations. Although David's precalculus class was traditional, his understanding of periodic functions was unconventional. David engaged in sense making behaviors even though these behaviors were not encouraged or explicitly taught. A careful analysis of his work revealed that David's understandings of functions, function notation, and periodicity were compartmentalized. However, David was able to skirt compartmentalization through flexibility in problem solving, translation between representations, and transfer of mathematical information from one representation to another.