Consequential implications of mathematics student teachers’ definitions of the function concept

This article reports consequential implications of mathematics student teachers’ definitions of the function concept. The implications emanated from scrutiny of written definitions, and exploration of demonstrated ability to identify functions and translate them into different representations. A qua...

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Main Author: Priestly Malambo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Muhammadiyah University Press 2022-10-01
Series:Journal of Research and Advances in Mathematics Education
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals2.ums.ac.id/index.php/jramathedu/article/view/9557
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author Priestly Malambo
author_facet Priestly Malambo
author_sort Priestly Malambo
collection DOAJ
description This article reports consequential implications of mathematics student teachers’ definitions of the function concept. The implications emanated from scrutiny of written definitions, and exploration of demonstrated ability to identify functions and translate them into different representations. A qualitative study characterized by a case study design was conducted. Four student teachers of mathematics education at a public university constitute the sample. Whereas the study site was conveniently chosen, the participants were a sub-sample in the principal study selected using extreme case strategy. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews preceded by student teachers’ written definitions of the function concept. Explorations of the written work and interview transcripts suggest that the student teachers’ definitions of a function were dominated by a narrow view that all functions are one-toone relations. Notwithstanding, the participants’ conception of one-toone functions was superficial. The student teachers’ flawed definitions of a function influenced their inability to correctly identify functions. Likewise, those definitions were consistent with the student teachers’ incapacity to translate functions accurately from one kind of representation into another. These findings underscore the necessity for mathematics teacher educators to facilitate student teachers’ development of correct definitions and appropriate concept images of the function concept.
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spelling doaj-art-129dbbaa51ff470fb65e0ccf36ef82532025-08-20T03:33:35ZengMuhammadiyah University PressJournal of Research and Advances in Mathematics Education2503-36972022-10-0119721010.23917/jramathedu.v7i4.171469620Consequential implications of mathematics student teachers’ definitions of the function conceptPriestly Malambo0The University of Zambia, ZambiaThis article reports consequential implications of mathematics student teachers’ definitions of the function concept. The implications emanated from scrutiny of written definitions, and exploration of demonstrated ability to identify functions and translate them into different representations. A qualitative study characterized by a case study design was conducted. Four student teachers of mathematics education at a public university constitute the sample. Whereas the study site was conveniently chosen, the participants were a sub-sample in the principal study selected using extreme case strategy. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews preceded by student teachers’ written definitions of the function concept. Explorations of the written work and interview transcripts suggest that the student teachers’ definitions of a function were dominated by a narrow view that all functions are one-toone relations. Notwithstanding, the participants’ conception of one-toone functions was superficial. The student teachers’ flawed definitions of a function influenced their inability to correctly identify functions. Likewise, those definitions were consistent with the student teachers’ incapacity to translate functions accurately from one kind of representation into another. These findings underscore the necessity for mathematics teacher educators to facilitate student teachers’ development of correct definitions and appropriate concept images of the function concept.https://journals2.ums.ac.id/index.php/jramathedu/article/view/9557function concept definitionconsequential implicationconcept imagefunction representationsmathematics student teachers
spellingShingle Priestly Malambo
Consequential implications of mathematics student teachers’ definitions of the function concept
Journal of Research and Advances in Mathematics Education
function concept definition
consequential implication
concept image
function representations
mathematics student teachers
title Consequential implications of mathematics student teachers’ definitions of the function concept
title_full Consequential implications of mathematics student teachers’ definitions of the function concept
title_fullStr Consequential implications of mathematics student teachers’ definitions of the function concept
title_full_unstemmed Consequential implications of mathematics student teachers’ definitions of the function concept
title_short Consequential implications of mathematics student teachers’ definitions of the function concept
title_sort consequential implications of mathematics student teachers definitions of the function concept
topic function concept definition
consequential implication
concept image
function representations
mathematics student teachers
url https://journals2.ums.ac.id/index.php/jramathedu/article/view/9557
work_keys_str_mv AT priestlymalambo consequentialimplicationsofmathematicsstudentteachersdefinitionsofthefunctionconcept