RUME 14 (Volume 1)
2011
Portland, Oregon
STUDENT APPROACHES AND DIFFICULTIES IN UNDERSTANDING AND USE OF VECTORS
Page: 187
A configuration for analyzing vector representations based on multiple representations, semiotic representation, cognitive development, and mathematical conceptualization, to serve as a new unifying framework for studying undergraduate student approaches and difficulties in understanding and use of vectors is proposed. Using this configuration, the study will explore five important transitions: physics to mathematics, arithmetic to algebraic, analytic to synthetic, geometric to symbolic, concrete to abstract, and corresponding student difficulties along epistemological and ontological axes. As a part of validation of the framework, a mini-study on undergraduate students’ approaches and difficulties in understanding and use of vectors is introduced, and we see how useful this new framework is to describe and analyze student approaches and difficulties in understanding and use of vectors.