Abstract
This study investigates university students ’graph interpretation strategies and difficulties in mathematics, physics (kinematics), and contexts other than physics. Eight sets of parallel (isomorphic)mathematics, physics, and other context questions about graphs, which were developed by us, were administered to 385 first-year students at the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb. Students were asked to provide explanations and/or mathematical procedures with their answers. Students’main strategies and difficulties identified through the analysis of those explanations and procedures are described. Student strategies of graph interpretation were found to be largely context dependent and domain specific. A small fraction of students have used the same strategy in all three domains (mathematics, physics, and other contexts) on most sets of parallel questions. Some students have shown indications of transfer of knowledge in the sense that they used techniques and strategies developed in physics for solving(or attempting to solve) other context problems. In physics, the preferred strategy was the use of formulas, which sometimes seemed to block the use of other, more productive strategies which students displayed in other domains. Students’answers indicated the presence of slope-height confusion and interval-point confusion in all three domains. Students generally better interpreted graph slope than the area under a graph, although the concept of slope still seemed to be quite vague for many. The interpretation of the concept of area under a graph needs more attention in both physics and mathematics teaching.
Highlights
Student understanding of graphs is very important in all areas of science, especially physics and mathematics
In a previous paper [16], of which this one is a sequel, we have described the first part of the study that attempted to compare first-year university students’ performance on mathematically similar problems, which were situated in mathematics, physics, and other contexts
The use of formulas dominated in all three domains on that set of questions (Table A [33], Fig. 2), but the formulas that were used were different in each domain
Summary
Student understanding of graphs is very important in all areas of science, especially physics and mathematics. To our knowledge, attempted to compare student reasoning difficulties about graphs in different contexts and domains [14,15,16] Such comparison, on the other hand, can provide interesting and important insights into student knowledge and learning. In the same study students gave explanations for their answers, which provided additional insight in the reasoning strategies that they used in different domains, and in their conceptual and reasoning difficulties regarding graphs These strategies and difficulties will be described and analyzed in the present study, which attempts to identify the main student strategies, as well as students’ reasoning difficulties, expressed on parallel graph problems, and to answer the following research questions:. (ii) What are the main observed student difficulties in each domain and how do they relate to the context of the questions?
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