PROCEEDINGS OF THE 17TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2014
Denver, Colorado
Students’ Conception Of The Temporal Order Of Delta And Epsilon Within The Formal Definition Of A Limit
Page: 30
Studies about students’ understanding of the formal definition of a limit, or the epsilon delta definition suggest that the temporal order of delta and epsilon is one of the most challenging aspects of the formal definition. While multiple studies have documented this difficulty for some students, patterns of students’ reasoning about the temporal order are largely unknown. This study investigates ways that students make sense of the temporal order by focusing on the justifications students provided for their claim about the temporal order. diSessa’s Knowledge in Pieces provides a suitable framework to explore the context specificity of students’ knowledge as well as the potential productivity of their prior knowledge in learning.