PROCEEDINGS OF THE 22ND ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2019
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Different epistemological frames give rise to different interpretations of college algebra lectures, yet pragmatic decisions about grades swamp productive beliefs
Page: 316
In this study, we present a comparative case study of two students with different epistemological frames watching the same college algebra lectures. We show that students with different epistemological frames can evaluate the same lectures in different ways, including very different evaluations of the goals and important content. Moreover, we illustrate that even when students have seemingly productive epistemological frames might give way to pragmatic decisions about earning a good grade when presented with too much information too fast. We argue that students might have productive dispositions towards mathematics, but default to a procedural orientation, and, as a result, appear indistinguishable in a class, from those who only have a procedural view of mathematics. These results illustrate how a student’s interpretation of a lecture is not inherently tied to the lecture, but rather depend on the student and her perspective on mathematics and factors in the control of the lecturer.