PROCEEDINGS OF THE 20TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2017
San Diego, California
Students’ attitudes toward listing and subsequent behavior solving counting problems
Page: 588
Counting problems provide rich mathematical content and a variety of applications for students, motivating investigation into the difficulties students face while counting. In particular, an important result supported by previous quantitative and qualitative evidence is that listing may be an effective strategy for combating some student struggles in counting, particularly since it draws explicit attention to outcome structure. However, anecdotal experience has shown that students can resist listing and feel that it is tedious and not worth the effort. To investigate whether these negative mindsets exist outside these anecdotes, task-based interviews were conducted targeting student attitudes toward listing and their success in using listing to solve counting problems. Contrary to the anecdotal evidence, the students in the study expressed that they felt listing is a worthwhile activity, but their work on counting problems suggest that they would benefit from more explicit support relating to listing in their discrete mathematics classes.