RUME 14 (Volume 2)
2011
Portland, Oregon
EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES THAT UNDERGRADUATES USE TO READ AND COMPREHEND PROOFS
Page: 504
In this paper, we examine the strategies that two successful undergraduate students used to comprehend six mathematical proofs. These students spent nearly as much time studying the theorem as they did studying the proof, both by reformulating the theorem and trying to understand why it was true prior to reading the proof. When reading the proof, these participants attended to proof frameworks, partitioned the proof, and considered specific examples. How these ideas might be used to improve students’ proof comprehension is discussed.