PROCEEDINGS OF THE 18TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2015
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
The influence of functions and variable on students’ understanding of calculus optimization problems
Page: 673
For this study, we aim to answer the following questions: 1) What conceptual knowledge do students need to have to be able to correctly solve optimization problems? 2) What weaknesses do students demonstrate when solving optimization problems? 3) How can we address these weaknesses and improve the teaching of optimization problems in calculus? In this paper, we discuss preliminary findings from this study, focusing on the responses of four first semester calculus students as they solve a basic optimization problem during a semi-structured interview. In particular, we observe how students’ understanding of function and variable influences their understanding of optimization problems. We believe we may be able to use APOS theory (Asiala et al, 1996) as a lens for studying how students understand optimization problems and begin to explore that in this paper.