RUME 26
2024
Omaha, Nebraska
Metaphors in Discrete Math: Not All Sameness is the Same
Page: 9
While sameness is a theme that appears throughout mathematics courses, limited work has examined how multiple types of sameness are understood within the same course. In this paper, we examine survey responses from 49 discrete mathematics students who characterized how they would explain equivalence relations, numerical congruence, and graph isomorphism to a child. Results include language conveying notions of sameness in response to all three prompts but variations in how the sameness was framed for the different concepts. Implications include the need for more work characterizing nuanced differences in students’ understandings of similar concepts within specific courses.