Investigating Science Education students’ mathematical writing – the case of mental brackets

Thoma, Athina (2022) Investigating Science Education students’ mathematical writing – the case of mental brackets. Conference of the British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics, Online. 05 Mar 2022. 6 pp .

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

This study reports on first-year Science Education students’ mathematical writing when solving tasks involving functions, logarithms, derivatives, and integrals. The focus of this paper is on students’ use of mental brackets, a concept which up to now has been mainly studied in primary school students’ scripts. When using mental brackets, the students do not write the brackets however they evaluate and manipulate the expressions as if brackets are present. In this pilot study, forty first-year Science Education students were asked to complete tasks that required the use of brackets in the above-mentioned topics. Students’ scripts were analysed focusing on instances where the students performed operations as if brackets were written. These occasions of mental brackets in students’ writing were further categorised using thematic analysis. The findings show that mental brackets in students’ scripts were used in instances related mainly to successive signs and grouping terms.

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