Test of Understanding Graphs in Calculus: Test of Students’ Interpretation of Calculus Graphs

Angeles Dominguez; Pablo Barniol; Genaro Zavala

doi:10.12973/ejmste/78085

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Angeles Dominguez ¹ ², Pablo Barniol ¹, Genaro Zavala ¹ ² ^*

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¹ Tecnologico de Monterrey, MEXICO² Universidad Andres Bello, CHILE^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Studies show that students, within the context of mathematics and science, have difficulties understanding the concepts of the derivative as the slope and the concept of the antiderivative as the area under the curve. In this article, we present the Test of Understanding Graphs in Calculus (TUG-C), an assessment tool that will help to evaluate students’ understanding of these two concepts by a graphical representation. Data from 144 students of introductory courses of physics and mathematics at a university was collected and analyzed. To evaluate the reliability and discriminatory power of this test, we used statistical techniques for individual items and the test as a whole, and proved that the test’s results are satisfactory within the standard requirements. We present the design process in this paper and the test in the appendix. We discuss the findings of our research, students’ understanding of the relations between these two concepts, using this new multiple-choice test. Finally, we outline specific recommendations. The analysis and recommendations can be used by mathematics or science education researchers, and by teachers that teach these concepts.

Keywords

concept of the derivative
concept of the antiderivative
context of calculus
reliable evaluation instrument
students’ graph understanding

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, Volume 13, Issue 10, October 2017, 6507-6531

https://doi.org/10.12973/ejmste/78085

Publication date: 29 Sep 2017

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How to cite this article

APA

Dominguez, A., Barniol, P., & Zavala, G. (2017). Test of Understanding Graphs in Calculus: Test of Students’ Interpretation of Calculus Graphs. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 13(10), 6507-6531. https://doi.org/10.12973/ejmste/78085

Vancouver

Dominguez A, Barniol P, Zavala G. Test of Understanding Graphs in Calculus: Test of Students’ Interpretation of Calculus Graphs. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2017;13(10):6507-31. https://doi.org/10.12973/ejmste/78085

AMA

Dominguez A, Barniol P, Zavala G. Test of Understanding Graphs in Calculus: Test of Students’ Interpretation of Calculus Graphs. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2017;13(10), 6507-6531. https://doi.org/10.12973/ejmste/78085

Chicago

Dominguez, Angeles, Pablo Barniol, and Genaro Zavala. "Test of Understanding Graphs in Calculus: Test of Students’ Interpretation of Calculus Graphs". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2017 13 no. 10 (2017): 6507-6531. https://doi.org/10.12973/ejmste/78085

Harvard

Dominguez, A., Barniol, P., and Zavala, G. (2017). Test of Understanding Graphs in Calculus: Test of Students’ Interpretation of Calculus Graphs. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 13(10), pp. 6507-6531. https://doi.org/10.12973/ejmste/78085

MLA

Dominguez, Angeles et al. "Test of Understanding Graphs in Calculus: Test of Students’ Interpretation of Calculus Graphs". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 13, no. 10, 2017, pp. 6507-6531. https://doi.org/10.12973/ejmste/78085