PROCEEDINGS OF THE 19TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2016
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Design research on inquiry-based multivariable calculus: Focusing on students’ argumentation and instructional design
Page: 988
In this study, researchers design and implement an inquiry-based multivariable calculus course as well as derive the characteristic of instructional interventions for enhancing students’ argumentation in proof construction activities. Over the course of 14 weeks, 18 freshmen mathematics education majors participated in this study. Multiple sources of data were collected, students’ reasoning in the classroom discussions were analyzed within the Toulmin’s argumentation structure, and the instructional interventions were gradually revised according to the iterative cyclic process of the design research. The students’ argumentation structures presented in the classroom gradually developed into more complicated forms as the study progressed, and the researchers conclude that the interventions were effective at improving students’ arguments.