PROCEEDINGS OF THE 23RD ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2020
Boston, Massachusetts
Calculus Students’ Visualization of Volume
Page: 1195
We present the methodology and preliminary findings from a study whose purpose is to uncover student thinking around volumes of solids of revolution, with a specific focus on how students create and use visual images. We use Gutierrez’ visualization framework (1996) to analyze how students use representations of their mental images to solve tasks. Initial findings suggest that students struggle representing slices that can be used to measure the volume of a sphere; first attempts instead make use of two-dimensional figures.