PROCEEDINGS OF THE 17TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2014
Denver, Colorado
An Eye To The Horizon: The Case Of Delia’s Hexagon
Page: 855
This paper explores pre-service secondary school mathematics teachers’ preferences when advising a student on how to determine the area of an irregular hexagon. The research attends to participants’ personal mathematical knowledge, as interpreted through the lens of Knowledge at the Mathematical Horizon. Philosophical notions of inner and outer horizons of conceptual objects are adapted to provide a refined analysis of participants’ personal strategies and preferences as evoked by an unconventional problem. The interplay amongst participants’ understanding of mathematical structure, their focus of attention when interpreting a problem, and the advice they offer to a student are of interest. Implications for teacher education and further avenues of research are suggested.