PROCEEDINGS OF THE 17TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2014
Denver, Colorado
Cognitive Processes and Knowledge in Activities in Community College Trigonometry Lessons
Page: 812
Over 50,000 students take trigonometry at two-year colleges in the U.S., yet little is knownabout their instruction. We report an analysis of activities in trigonometry classes taught at acommunity college attending to two dimensions, the type of knowledge used (Factual,Procedural, Conceptual, and Metacognitive) and the cognitive processes (Remember,Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, Create) intended in the activity as enacted by teachers intheir lessons. Most of the 163 activities were classified as applying procedural knowledge; overone-fifth of the activities were coded as remembering factual knowledge or understandingconceptual knowledge. We discuss these findings in light of the community college setting andoffer some questions for further research.