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2013 Conference Proceedings - University of Nevada, Las Vegas

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They further state that “the importance <strong>of</strong> understanding function and the challenge <strong>of</strong>understanding them well make them essential for teachers <strong>of</strong> mathematics in grades 9-12 tounderstand extremely well themselves” (p. 1). In their book, Cooney et al. (2010) identifies fivebig ideas around which essential understanding <strong>of</strong> functions is developed. This study focusedprimarily on one <strong>of</strong> these big ideas, the notion <strong>of</strong> multiple representations <strong>of</strong> function. “Functionscan be represented in multiple ways, including algebraic (symbolic), graphical, verbal, andtabular representations. Links among these different representations are important to studyingrelationships and change” (Cooney, et al., 2010).The results <strong>of</strong> this study reveal that this group <strong>of</strong> secondary mathematics teacher candidateshas a limited understanding <strong>of</strong> the concept <strong>of</strong> function. Their ability to identify whether or not arepresentation was a function and provide a satisfactory explanation was not as strong as whatmight have been hoped for given they are near the end <strong>of</strong> their teacher preparation program.When presented with a graphical representation, the participants overwhelmingly used thevertical line test to determine if the graph represented a function or not. In line with Clements(2001) findings, the participants in this study also applied the vertical line test to the drawingincluded in one <strong>of</strong> the verbal representation problems indicating a lack <strong>of</strong> sophistication in theirunderstanding <strong>of</strong> function. Further, in their explanations on the pre/post-assessment, if theparticipants provided a reason other than the vertical line test they overwhelmingly failed tomention the “single-valuedness” <strong>of</strong> functions. They frequently indicated that one element fromthe domain should “produce” or “be aligned with one element from the range” but rarelyindicated that this should be a unique relationship or that for each element <strong>of</strong> the domain, there isexactly one element <strong>of</strong> the range.Although this group <strong>of</strong> teacher candidates has successfully completed a significant number <strong>of</strong>college-level mathematics courses, their conception and understanding <strong>of</strong> function is limited andin some cases incorrect. Likewise, the limited nature <strong>of</strong> their explanations for why a particularrepresentation was or was not a function revealed that they may view mathematics as primarilyabout computation and rules. These findings align with Wilson’s (1994) suggestion thatalthough it is important for secondary mathematics teacher candidates to consider advancedmathematics topics, it may be more important that they are provided ample opportunity to reflecton their own conceptions and understandings while learning (or re-learning) mathematics theywill have to teach.<strong>Proceedings</strong> <strong>of</strong> the 40 th Annual Meeting <strong>of</strong> the Research Council on Mathematics Learning <strong>2013</strong> 30

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