PROCEEDINGS OF THE 22ND ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2019
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Investigating STEM students’ measurement schemes with a unites coordination lens
Page: 84
Measurement is a foundational concept in all STEM fields. Difficulties with measurement and converting between units of measure have been documented in medical students, chemistry students, and mathematics students at varieties of educational levels. However, less is known about why this topic is so difficult and what mental operations are entailed in mastering it. Steffe (2012) argued that students must assimilate situations with three levels of units to understand measurement conversions so we attend to students’ units coordination schemes while remaining open to other factors impacting students’ responses to measurement tasks. We found that the STEM majors in our sample who assimilated tasks with two levels of units had more difficulty with measurement tasks than those who assimilated tasks with three levels of units.