PROCEEDINGS OF THE 23RD ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2020
Boston, Massachusetts
Exploring student understanding of implicit differentiation
Page: 1175
It is well known that undergraduate calculus students struggle with the concept of derivative and ideas related to it. Yet, there is less research available on more specific techniques and applications of the derivative. The goal of this study was to examine student understanding of, and ability to carry out one such technique, implicit differentiation. Data was collected through both written surveys and clinical interviews. Findings suggest that students do not have a strong understanding of implicit differentiation and that their difficulties with computational problems stem from a variety of issues they have related to functions.