Students' improper proportional reasoning: The case of area and volume of rectangular figures
Ημερομηνία
2004Source
International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics EducationVolume
3Issue
Conf 28Pages
3-345-352Google Scholar check
Metadata
Εμφάνιση πλήρους εγγραφήςΕπιτομή
In this paper, we investigate the predominance of the linear model in 12-13 year old
Cypriot students, while solving non-proportional word problems involving area and
volume of rectangular figures. Using three different kinds of tests related to the
context of the word problems presented we attempt to identify a differentiation in
students’ responses. The results reveal students’ tendency to apply proportional
reasoning in problem situations in which this kind of reasoning is not suited. This
tendency appears to decrease in the second phase of the study when the context of the
problems was changed. The data also suggest that students are not able to detect the
common non-linear character of area and volume tasks and therefore, deal with them
in a different way.