PROCEEDINGS OF THE 16TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION (Vol 2)
2013
Denver, Colorado
Adapting Model Analysis for the Study of Proof Schemes
Page: 2-379
Model analysis is a quantitative research method used in physics education research; we have adapted this method to study proof schemes in a transition-to-proof course. Model analysis accounts for the fact that students may hold more than one idea or conception at a time, and may use different ideas and concepts in response to different situations. Model analysis is uniquely suited to study students' proof schemes, as students often hold multiple, sometimes conflicting proof schemes, which they may use at different times. Model analysis treats each student’s complete set of responses as a data point, rather than treating each individual response as a separate data point. Thus, model analysis can capture information on the self-consistency of a student’s responses. We collected data from a transition-to-proof course at the beginning and the end of the Fall 2012 semester. We find that model analysis offers significant insights not offered by traditional analysis.