ERIC Number: ED629929
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2020-Dec
Pages: 9
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Unit Transformation Graphs: A Case Study
Norton, Anderson; Ulrich, Catherine; Kerrigan, Sarah
North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (42nd, Mazatlán, Mexico and Online, May 27-Jun 6, 2021)
We introduce a methodology for diagramming the ways students use sequences of mental actions to solve mathematical tasks. We studied 12 pre-service teachers as they solved a set of fractions tasks, ranked by cognitive demand. We present the unit transformation graphs for one of those pre-service teachers, to illustrate how she experienced and met cognitive demand across the fractions tasks. Specifically, the graphs illustrate how sequencing mental actions places demands on working memory and how units coordination structures can offload some of that demand. [For the complete proceedings, see ED629884.]
Descriptors: Mathematics Education, Problem Solving, Preservice Teachers, Preservice Teacher Education, Fractions, Cognitive Processes, Difficulty Level, Graphs, Sequential Learning, Short Term Memory, Number Concepts, Elementary School Mathematics
North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. e-mail: pmena.steeringcommittee@gmail.com; Web site: http://www.pmena.org/
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A