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Understanding of limits and differentiation as threshold concepts in a first-year mathematics course
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Abstract
Threshold concepts remain relatively unexplored in mathematics, despite suggestions that the troublesome nature of such concepts pose a critical barrier to student understanding of mathematics. Many studies have identified student difficulties with limits, and their findings point to a strong likelihood that limits do indeed constitute a threshold concept in mathematics. This paper describes the initial results in a study that sought to investigate students’ understanding of limits and differentiation from the prospective of Threshold Concepts. While the findings to date do not provide conclusive evidence for limits as a threshold concept, they do reinforce the troublesome nature of the limit concept, and suggest some important implications for the teaching of limits consistent with previous studies.
Item Type: | Conference Publication |
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Authors/Creators: | Oates, GN and Reaburn, RL and Brideson, MA and Dharmadasa, HK |
Keywords: | calculus, threshold concepts, misconceptions |
Journal or Publication Title: | Proceedings of the Eleventh Southern Hemisphere Conference on the Teaching and Learning of Undergraduate Mathematics and Statistics |
Publisher: | Delta Conferences |
Copyright Information: | Copyright 2017 the Author |
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Item Statistics: | View statistics for this item |
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