PROCEEDINGS OF THE 15TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION (Vol 1)
2012
Portland, Oregon
Factors Influencing Students’ Propensity for Semantic and Syntactic Reasoning in Proof Writing: A Single-Case Study
Page: 1-330
In this paper we present a case study of an individual student who consistently used semantic reasoning to write proofs in calculus but infrequently used semantic reasoning to write proofs in linear algebra. We argue that the differences in these reasoning styles can be partially attributed to this student’s familiarity with the content, the teaching styles of the professors who taught him, and the time he was given to complete the tasks. These results suggest that there are factors that have been ignored in previous research, including domain, instruction, and methodological constraints, that researchers should consider when ascribing to students a proving style.