PROCEEDINGS OF THE 20TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2017
San Diego, California
Student understanding of the product layer of the integral in volume problems
Page: 1546
Research has shown that students have difficulties attending to the underlying product andsummation structure of the integral when solving application problems. This study examinesstudent conceptions of the product layer when solving volume problems. Participants weresecond-semester calculus students enrolled in a large, public university. Task-based interviewsconsisted of students working through and discussing volume problems. Preliminary resultsshow that a majority of students’ volume integral setups are highly formulaic and linked tomemorized patterns and methods seen in class, as opposed to having a true understanding of theunderlying structure of the problem. We plan to conduct more interviews of this type withadditional volume problems and investigate other aspects such as visualization and gesture.Key words: