PROCEEDINGS OF THE 20TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2017
San Diego, California
Defining functions: Choices that affect student learning
Page: 1170
Textbook authors and instructors choose how to define the concept of function for students. Thisstudy examines the impact of definition choice on the mathematics work of graduate students, allof whom were mathematics majors and most of whom are in-service mathematics teachers. Dataare student work on tasks requiring the application of different textbook definitions of functions.By drawing on ideas about action vs. object conceptions of function, it is hypothesized that certainlinguistic features of definitions may affect students’ abilities to use the definition and to build arobust concept image of function.Key words: