Representational Competence with Linear Functions: A Glimpse into the Community College Algebra Classroom

Abstract

Teaching and learning strategies that encourage students to develop the ability to use mathematical representations in meaningful ways are powerful tools for building algebraic understandings of mathematics and solving problems (American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges [AMATYC], 2018). The study of functions in algebra courses taught at community colleges in the United States provides students the opportunity and space to make connections between important characteristics of various families of functions. Using examples of teaching and learning linear functions from intermediate and college algebra courses in community colleges, we explore the ways instructors and students use a variety of representations (visual, symbolic, numeric, contextual, verbal, and/or physical) in teaching and learning linear functions, while connecting between and within these representations.