Tugasan Graf Fungsi
Tugasan Graf Fungsi
general study
program
(17-19)
Lower
Secondary
school
(14-16)
Primary
school
(6-13)
Figure 1: Transitions in the Norwegian school system.
As a PhD student (in my third year), I have chosen this transition as the focus of my
research. It is
important to note that in Norway, upper secondary schooling is divided in two main
programmes:
the vocational programmes, which are orientated towards practical professions and
the general
study program, which aims to prepare students for higher education. The curriculum
is different in
these programmes and is considered to be more theoretical at the general study
program. This is
also the case for mathematics as a subject. Both of these programmes are included
in this research.
Further, I have chosen to focus on functions as this is an area highly relevant to
both levels of
schooling, and personally I find the development of students conceptual
understanding of functions
to be an interesting research area. It is also possible to expand this area of research,
for example by
The following can serve as examples of psychological tools, and their complex
systems:
language; various systems for counting; mnemonic techniques; algebraic symbol
systems;
works of art; writing; schemes, diagrams, maps, and mechanical drawings; all sorts
of
conventional signs; and so on (Vygotsky, 1981c, p. 137)
The quotation above contains some examples of what Vygotsky described as
meditational means.
Students hand-written materials, their work at computers, their answers and
arguing during
interviews and conversations, all related to the learning of mathematics (and in this
case, functions)
are all examples of such mediating means. Hence, in addition to the personal
convictions
mentioned above, this important role of mediation also brings in the pragmatic
dimension in the
construction of my theoretical platform
Concept formation
By basing my argumentation on the Vygotskian understanding of signs as mediating
tools, I will
approach concept formation from a perspective more in line with the sociocultural way of
thinking. Rooted in Pierce (1998), Presmeg (2005) describes signs through a triad,
consisting of a
representamen, an object and an interprentant. One can regard the representamen
as the sign itself,
for example the linear expression y = 2x 3. A classification of this expression
(sign) in terms of
being a function, an algebraic expression or a linear equation will relate to the
object.
Interpreting this sign, in terms of acting on it through different representations, for
example to
draw a straight line through a two-dimensional plane intersecting the y-axis at -3,
making a value
table or performing algebraic manipulations will all be acts of the interpretant.
Figure 3: A representation of a nested chaining of three signs. (Presmeg, 2005, p.
107)
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This interpretant involves meaning making: it is the result of trying to make sense
of the
relationship of the other two components, the object and the representamen. It is
important
to note that the entire first sign with its three components constitutes the second
object, and
the entire second sign constitutes the third object, which thus include both the first
and the
second signs. Each object may thus be thought of as the reification of the processes
in the
previous sign
The role of students own interpretations in forming mathematical concepts is
prominent most of
content, and develop detailed transposition studies. It can also lead researchers to
study more
general institutional expectations (Gueudet, 2008, p. 245)
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This institutional perspective is rooted in Brousseaus (1997) Theory of didactical
situations and
Chevallards anthropological theory of didactics. A key notion in Brousseaus
theory is didactical
transposition.
Teachers isolate certain notions and properties, taking them away from the
network of
activities which provide their origin, meaning, motivation and use. They transpose
them into
a classroom context. (Brousseau, 1997, p. 21).
Use- and exchange value
Studying the transition between school and college in England, Hernandez-Martinez
(2009)
suggests that The Maths discourse at school is about exchange value, [as
opposite to use
value] which is influenced by the performativity system in which schools compete.
Further he
suggests that the Maths discourse at college is about use value. Students are
asked for a certain
level of abstraction and understanding of the mathematical concepts to be used, all
in a relatively
short period of time. The Marxist terms use value and exchange value are used
to separate
between the purposes of the mathematical discussions at the institutions. It would
be of interest to
see if similar findings may also apply for this study.
METHODOLOGY
in an attempt to seek some diversity in the sample, while the public schools were
somewhat
randomly selected, with the only criteria being that they, due to practical reasons,
were located
within a reasonable distance from my working place. As the Norwegian school
system is quite
homogenous I believe that these schools are representative to their area. The
headmasters were
contacted via telephone and their school was invited to participate. The number of
students willing
to participate from each class varied from three to ten. In total 33 students
participated and I am
currently conducting follow-up research on 12 of these as they entered upper
secondary school. I
have chosen the follow-up students on the basis of three criterions: equal gender
distribution,
students at both vocational and general study programmes, and variations of skills
(on the basis of
their marks). My purpose is to gain a rich material with some diversity. My data
collection at lower
secondary school mainly consisted of five phases: Observations of the teacher
teaching, recorded
conversations with the students engaging in mathematics in the classroom,
interviews with the
students, collection of students handwritten material and an interview with their
teacher. This
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provides me with a diverse material which allows me to study mathematics
education from various
perspectives. The data collection at upper secondary school is done in a similar way.
My use of
research instruments did vary somewhat from school to school, primarily due to the
fact that some
Lincoln, Y.S. & Guba, E.G. (1985). Naturalistic Inquiry. California: Sage Publication.
Mertens, D.M. (2005). Research and Evaluation in Education and Psychology. 2
nd
Vygotsky, L.S. (1981) The instrumental Method in Psychology. In J.V. Wretsch (Ed. &
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Trans.) The concept of activity in soviet psychology ( pp. 134-143)Armonk, NY: M. E.
Sharpe.
(Russian original published in 1960)
Vygotsky, L. S. (1987). Thinking and speech. In L. S. Vygotsky, The collected works
of L. S.
Vygotsky, Vol. 1, Problems of general psychology (pp.39-285) (R. W. Rieber & A. S.
Carton,
Eds.; N. Minick, Trans.). New York: Plenum Press. (Original work published 1934).