RUME 26
2024
Omaha, Nebraska
Teaching Practices Addressing Multiple Uses of a Word in Mathematics – Case for Derivative
Page: 633
We investigated teaching practices aiming to communicate multiple uses of a common term in mathematics with students focusing on the use of a single word “derivative” for both objects “the derivative at a point” and “the derivative function” using commognitive approach and intellectual needs. Our analysis of a teacher’s teaching explicitly attending to this feature revealed several teaching practices with this aim: discussing discursive rules for distinguishing the two uses and using another mathematical object for connecting the uses (e.g., slope); discussing a colloquial object that has a similar feature and is familiar to students, which provided a familiar discourse that students could rely on; and avoiding multiple uses of a common word in one context, Those teaching practices are impacted by multiple uses of a common signifier in communication and mathematical relations among the two objects objectified by a common word, but also impacted how the objects became related.