PROCEEDINGS OF THE 21ST ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2018
San Diego, California
Katlyn’s Inverse Dilemma: School Mathematics Versus Quantitative Reasoning
Page: 360
In this report, I examine the interplay between Katlyn’s (an undergraduate student’s) inverse relation (and function) meanings developed through her continued school experiences and her reasoning about relationships between quantities. I first summarize the literature on students’ inverse function meanings and then provide my theoretical perspective, including a description of a quantitative approach to inverse relations (and functions). I then present Katlyn’s activities in a teaching experiment designed to support her in reasoning about a relation and its inverse relation as representing an invariant relationship. Although she engaged in such reasoning, her continued school mathematics experiences constrained her in reorganizing her inverse function meanings. I conclude with a discussion and areas for future research.