RUME 27
2025
Alexandria, Virginia
An Undergraduate Student’s Experiences With Mathematical Proof’s Values and Norms
Page: 1539
I use a poststructuralist stance in this study to interrogate some values and norms for mathematical proof. While poststructuralist theory has been used in mathematics education, it has not yet been widely used to explore questions related to the practices of mathematical proof. In this study, I engage in an unstructured interview session with an undergraduate student, Sherine. I present Sherine with an excerpt about mathematical values and norms for proof along with two versions of a proof for the same theorem. Here, I share some of Sherine’s reactions to the reading excerpt and the two proofs. This study has implications for how we present proofs to students who are learning about them for the first time.