RUME 28
2026
Alexandria, Virginia
“There’s Nothing Abstract About This Math”: Abstract Algebra Students’ Interpretations of Abstraction
Page: 1245
Abstract Algebra is often cited as being a difficult course for undergraduate students because it is more abstract than computationally based courses such as Calculus. But what does it mean for something to be “abstract”? I conducted a grounded theory analysis of student survey data from an Introduction to Abstract Algebra course to explore how students define abstraction. The data show that students’ personal definitions of abstraction go beyond conceptions of abstraction discussed in the literature, and the concept of abstraction acts as a mathematical artifact that influences the way students view abstract algebra concepts. Preliminary analysis also suggest that students’ definitions of abstraction differed depending on their major area of study, indicating that abstraction is a boundary object whose definitions and uses vary depending on context.