RUME 27
2025
Alexandria, Virginia
Calculus I Students' Logical Reasoning About the Definition of Continuity of Function
Page: 553
We examine undergraduate calculus students’ reasoning about the continuity of a function at a point. The study was conducted in the context of an NSF-funded project that supported the redesign of Calculus I recitations at a large public university. One aspect of the reform effort involved introducing conceptually rich, collaborative activities into Calculus recitations. One such activity focused on the concept of continuity at a point, with one particular task probing students’ understanding of the definition of continuity at a point using true-false statements. Data from 84 student in-class worksheets were analyzed with a focus on the type of reasoning students used to respond to these questions. The results reveal a variety of graphical, logical, example-based, and rules-based strategies.