PROCEEDINGS OF THE 22ND ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2019
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Instructors’ and students’ images of isomorphism and homomorphism
Page: 518
This study uses thematic analysis to examine the conceptual metaphors used by two abstract algebra teachers to describe the concepts of isomorphism and homomorphism, both in interviews outside instruction and during class. These metaphors are compared to the metaphors used by their students to describe these concepts. While the two instructors utilized similar metaphors for isomorphism, they did not share metaphors for homomorphism. Further, when looking from interviews to instruction, there was again more alignment with isomorphism than with homomorphism, with metaphors used to discuss homomorphism during the interviews being less present during instruction than those used to discuss isomorphism. The students in these two classes appeared to incorporate the instructors’ metaphors to varying degrees.