RUME 28
2026
Alexandria, Virginia
GTA Perceptions of Precalculus Students' Graphing via Covariational Reasoning
Page: 651
The success of any educational change requires the support of instructors, and at the introductory undergraduate mathematics level, up to 30% of those courses are taught by graduate teaching assistants (GTAs). Research has shown the prevalence and importance of covariational reasoning at the precalculus/calculus level, and this study examines how GTAs interpret and respond to students’ attempts at graphing via covariational reasoning. Through engaging in a version of Carlson et al.’s (2002) Bottle Problem, and then watching and responding to two precalculus students’ video responses to the problem, 11 GTAs had the opportunity to express their teacher decision making around student thinking. I analyzed their responses using Herbst et al.’s (2023) categories of perception teachers use when considering framed student contributions: normativity, serviceability, and responsiveness. The results indicate that GTAs primarily focus on (non)-serviceable and (non)-normative aspects of students’ work. I detail these results and discuss implications for GTA training.