Graphing formulas: Unraveling experts’ recognition processes

Publication date

2017

Authors

Kop, P.M.G.M.
Janssen, F.J.J.M.
Drijvers, PaulISNI 0000000369715867
van Driel, J.H.

Editors

Advisors

Supervisors

Document Type

Article
Open Access logo

License

taverne

Abstract

An instantly graphable formula (IGF) is a formula that a person can instantly visualizeusing a graph. These IGFs are personal and serve as building blocks for graphing formulasby hand. The questions addressed in this paper are what experts’ repertoires of IGFs are andwhat experts attend to while recognizing these formulas. Three tasks were designed andadministered to five experts. The data analysis, which was based on Barsalou and Schwarzand Hershkowitz, showed that experts’ repertoires of IGFs could be described using functionfamilies that reflect the basic functions in secondary school curricula and revealed thatexperts’ recognition could be described in terms of prototype, attribute, and part-wholereasoning. We give suggestions for teaching graphing formulas to students.

Keywords

Graphing formulasExperts’ recognitionFunction familiesPrototypes and attributes, Taverne, SCI and SSCI Journals

Citation

Kop, P M G M, Janssen, F J J M, Drijvers, P H M & van Driel, J H 2017, 'Graphing formulas: Unraveling experts’ recognition processes', Journal of Mathematical Behavior, vol. 45, pp. 167-182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2017.01.002