Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation

 

The relationship of a problem-based calculus course and students' views of mathematical thinking Public Deposited

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https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/xs55mg142

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  • It has been held that heuristic training alone is not enough for developing one's mathematical thinking. One missing component is a mathematical point of view. Many educational researchers have proposed problem-based curricula to improve students' views of mathematical thinking. The present study reports findings regarding effects of a problem-based calculus course, using historical problems, to foster Taiwanese college students' views of mathematical thinking. The present study consisted of three stages. During the initial phase, 44 engineering majors' views on mathematical thinking were tabulated by a six-item, open-ended questionnaire and nine randomly selected students were invited to participate in follow-up interviews. Students then received an 18-week problem-based calculus course in which mathematical concepts were problematized in order to challenge their personally expressed empirical beliefs in doing mathematics. Several tasks and instructional approaches served to reach the goal. Near the end of the semester, all participants answered the same questionnaire and the same students were interviewed to pinpoint their shift in views on mathematical thinking. It was found that participants were more likely to value logical sense, creativity, and imagination in doing mathematics. Further, students leaned toward a conservative attitude in the certainty of mathematical knowledge. Participants focus seemingly shifted from mathematics as a product to mathematics as a process.
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