RUME 26
2024
Omaha, Nebraska
Two Students’ Meanings for Partial and Directional Derivatives When Constructing Linear Approximations: The Cases of Alonzo and John
Page: 763
In this paper, I describe two vignettes of two students’ meanings for partial and directional derivatives. The data was collected in the Spring 2023 academic semester from two STEM students who had completed multivariable calculus at least two semesters prior to participating in the study. The interviews were conducted using task-based, exploratory teaching interviews with the goal of creating explanatory models of student thinking to highlight the nuance in their meanings for differential multivariable calculus ideas. The two students, Alonzo and John, each exhibited novel meanings for partial derivatives that were constructed over several semesters of mathematics and physics instruction. These results add to the field’s understanding of students’ thinking about a relatively underdeveloped area of the research literature, specifically multivariable calculus education.