PROCEEDINGS OF THE 19TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2016
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Prospective teachers’ evaluations of students’ proofs by mathematical induction
Page: 1222
This study examines how prospective secondary teachers validate several proofs by mathematical induction (MI) from hypothetical students and how their work with proof validations relates to how they grade their students’ proofs. When asked to give criteria for evaluating a student’s argument, participants wished to see a correct base step, inductive step, and algebra. However, participants prioritized the base step and inductive step over assessing the correctness of the algebra when validating and grading students’ arguments. All of the participants gave more points to an argument that presented only the inductive step than to an argument that presented only the base step. Two of the participants accepted the students’ argument addressing only the inductive step as a valid proof. Further studies are needed to determine how prospective teachers evaluate their students’ arguments by MI if many algebraic errors are present, especially in the inductive step.