PROCEEDINGS OF THE 20TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2017
San Diego, California
Developing student understanding: The case of proof by contradiction
Page: 1164
Proof is central to the curriculum for undergraduate mathematics majors. Despite transition-to-proof courses designed to facilitate the transition from computation-based mathematics to proof-based mathematics, students continue to struggle with mathematical proof. In particular,research suggests that proof by contradiction is a difficult proof methods for students toconstruct and comprehend. The purpose of this paper is to discuss preliminary results on studentcomprehension of proof by contradiction within a transition-to-proof course. Grounded in APOSTheory, this paper will illustrate that