PROCEEDINGS OF THE 23RD ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2020
Boston, Massachusetts
Calculus students’ epistemologies of mathematics: The case for a dynamic interpretation
Page: 407
Students’ epistemologies (beliefs about mathematical knowledge) play a significant role in how they learn mathematics. Much prior work in this area describes student epistemologies as unitary, where evidence of a particular epistemology is taken to represent that student’s singular epistemology of mathematics. Most argue that these epistemologies stem from their experiences across their mathematics classes. This study set out to examine students’ epistemologies in introductory calculus and how those epistemologies influence and reflect students’ experiences in mathematics courses. To a significant extent, it confirms results from prior studies. However, through one-on-one it finds more variability in students’ epistemologies than most of the literature has described. That variability is significant for helping educators think about how to help students learn mathematics in general, and calculus in particular.