{"pk":26368,"title":"College Students’ Understanding of Linear Functions: Slope is Slippery","subtitle":null,"abstract":"A common obstacle for students in the transition from arithmetic\nto algebra is developing a conceptual understanding of equations\nrepresenting functions. Two experiments manipulated\nisomorphic problems in terms of their solution requirements\n(computation vs. interpretation) and format to test for\nunderstanding of linear functions. Experiment 1 provided\nproblems in a story context, and found that performance on slope\ncomparison problems was low, especially when problems were\npresented with equations. Experiment 2 tested whether\nperformance on slope comparison problems improves when\nproblem prompts include explicit mathematical terminology\nrather than just natural language consistent with the problem\nstory. Results suggest that many undergraduate students fail to\naccess the mathematical concept of slope when problem prompts\nare presented with natural language. Overall, the results suggest\nthat even undergraduate students lack understanding of the slope\nconcept and equations of linear functions, both which are\nfoundational for advanced algebraic thinking.","language":"eng","license":{"name":"","short_name":"","text":null,"url":""},"keywords":[{"word":"algebraic problem solving"},{"word":"slope"},{"word":"linear functions"}],"section":"Papers","is_remote":true,"remote_url":"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/87p1431h","frozenauthors":[{"first_name":"Marta","middle_name":"K.","last_name":"Mielicki","name_suffix":"","institution":"University of Illinois at Chicago","department":""},{"first_name":"Jennifer","middle_name":"","last_name":"Wiley","name_suffix":"","institution":"University of Illinois at Chicago","department":""}],"date_submitted":null,"date_accepted":null,"date_published":"2016-01-01T18:00:00Z","render_galley":null,"galleys":[{"label":"PDF","type":"pdf","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/cognitivesciencesociety/article/26368/galley/16004/download/"}]}