Conceptions of Function in Textbooks from Eighteen Countries: An Empirical Analysis of Middle School Textbooks from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study - Softcover

Mesa, Vilma

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3639131479 ISBN 13: 9783639131475

Publisher: VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, 2009

Synopsis

The concept of function has dramatically changed the landscape of mathematics. Its introduction into school mathematics, however, has proved to be challenging. What might students learn about functions if they were to answer all the functions tasks in their seventh- and eighth-grade textbooks? In 35 textbooks from 18 countries collected by the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), there were five distinct conceptions of function: symbolic-rule, ordered-pair, social-data, physical-phenomena, and controlling-image. Symbolic-rule and ordered-pair were the most frequent. The achievement test items in TIMSS did not appear to address the same conceptions of function as the tasks in the textbooks. The TIMSS test emphasized social-data, physical-phenomena, and controlling-image conceptions over symbolic-rule and ordered-pair conceptions. Some textbooks had tasks that enacted a variety of conceptions of function whereas others only emphasized a few. These conceptions might play an important role in making the concept accessible if they could be used as springboards toward a more flexible understanding of function.

About this title

About the Author

Dr. Vilma Mesa is assistant professor in the School of Education at the University of Michigan. She studied mathematics and computer sciences at the University of Los Andes in Colombia and pursued graduate studies in mathematics education at the University of Georgia in the USA. She investigates mathematics teaching at the post-secondary level.

Edition details

• Publisher: VDM Verlag Dr. Müller
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3639131479
• ISBN 13: 9783639131475
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 200