PROCEEDINGS OF THE 22ND ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2019
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
How do students interpret multiply quantified statements in mathematics?
Page: 878
We presented introduction to proof students from five different US universities with multiply quantified statements to assess and interpret. The survey was designed to allow us to compare the influence of syntax, semantics, and pragmatics in student interpretation. We analyzed the ways students interpreted the statements both before and after instruction. Current analysis suggests that students became more sensitive to syntax (reversing quantifier order) after instruction and became better able to construct a semantically odd construal (e.g. the distance between two points is equal to multiple numbers). Our analysis of pragmatics suggests that students were more likely before instruction to construct a relevant construal, but we did not find evidence that truth-value influenced students’ interpretation of the given claims.