EXTERNAL REPRESENTATION FLEXIBILITY OF DOMAIN AND RANGE OF FUNCTION

This study attempts to analyze pre-service secondary mathematics teachers’ flexibility of external representations of domain and range of functions. To reach the purpose, a task consisted of thirty question items were designed. Participants of the study were thirty-eight Indonesian pre-service secondary mathematics teachers attending mathematics education department at one private university in Jakarta, Indonesia. Based on the analysis participants written responses, this paper revealed participants’ difficulties in providing a proper and consistent definition of the concept of domain and range of functions. We also disclosed the participants’ lack of flexibility in doing translation among representations under the concept of domain and range of function. In general, participants written responses to the task did not provide evidence of a solid understanding of domain and range. There are several implications of these findings offered for secondary mathematics teacher education’s program.

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PRE-SERVICE SECONDARY MATHEMATICS TEACHERS’ UNDERSTANDING OF ABSOLUTE VALUE

Jurnal Cakrawala Pendidikan ◽

10.21831/cp.v38i1.21945 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 38 (1) ◽

pp. 203-214

Author(s):

Tian Abdul Aziz ◽

Supiat Supiat ◽

Yohanes Soenarto

Keyword(s):

Mathematics Teachers ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Private University ◽

Secondary Mathematics ◽

Algebraic Manipulation ◽

Education Department ◽

Absolute Value ◽

Written Responses ◽

Secondary Mathematics Teachers ◽

Definition Of

This study aims to give a comprehensive account of pre-service secondary mathematics teachers’ understanding of absolute value. Thirty two-item absolute value understanding test was developed and administered to thirty-eight students attending mathematics education department at one private university in Jakarta City, Indonesia. Five of them were selected purposively and interviewed to gain deep information and confirm their written responses in the test. We find that most participants struggled with the absolute value task. There are inconsistencies of the definition of absolute value expressed by them. Besides, typical mistakes made are: (a) removal of absolute value bars; (b) focus heavily on rules; (c) conversion of absolute value bars to parentheses; (d) exclusion of number inside absolute value bars; (e) poor algebraic manipulation; and (f) inability to draw absolute value graph. Based on the findings, the most common cause of mistakes made by the participants is didactical contract in mathematics teaching and learning. Limitation and implications of the study are presented.

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Using Dynamic Sketches to Enhance Preservice Secondary Mathematics Teachers' Understanding of Limits of Sequences

Journal for Research in Mathematics Education ◽

10.5951/jresematheduc.42.1.0065 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 42 (1) ◽

pp. 65-96 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Beth L. Cory ◽

Joe Garofalo

Keyword(s):

Mathematics Teachers ◽

Visual Representation ◽

Secondary Mathematics ◽

Concept Image ◽

Formal Definition ◽

Secondary Mathematics Teachers ◽

Definition Of ◽

Interactive Dynamic

This study investigates 3 preservice secondary mathematics teachers' understandings of limits of sequences and their changing conceptions of limit during and after instruction involving interactive, dynamic sketches embodying the formal definition of the limit of a sequence. Manipulating a coherent visual representation of the formal definition in the contexts of various sequences, coupled with answering carefully chosen questions and completing interview tasks before, during, and after technology-enhanced instruction, gave the participants opportunities to investigate and reflect on their own concept image as they compared their understandings to the results of the actions they performed on the sketch.

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