This study explores the effects of receptive derivational affix knowledge, derivative frequency, part of speech, and vocabulary breadth on production of derivatives. Twenty-one speakers of English as a first language and 107 learners of English as a second language were asked to produce derivatives for 90 prompt words on a decontextualized…

The present study sets out to measure Turkish EFL learners' receptive affix knowledge and productive derivative vocabulary knowledge. More specifically, the extent to which Turkish EFL learners recognize written form of affixes, know the meaning of affixes and determine the part of speech of the derivatives produced by means of affixes and how…

We use Action-Process-Object-Schema (APOS) theory to study students' geometric understanding of partial derivatives of functions of two variables. This study contributes to research on the teaching and learning of differential multivariable calculus and its didactics. This is an important area due to its multiple applications in science,…

This study investigated two undergraduate mathematics students' meanings for derivatives of univariable and multivariable functions when creating linear approximations. Both participants completed multivariable calculus at least two semesters prior to participating in a sequence of four to five exploratory teaching interviews. One purpose of the…

Students need a robust understanding of the derivative for upper-division mathematics and science courses, including thinking about derivatives as ratios of small changes in multivariable and vector contexts. In "Raising Calculus to the Surface" activities, multivariable calculus students collaboratively discover properties of…

Derivative concept is one of the essential studies in calculus, which is studied in teaching mathematics. Prospective mathematics teachers who have completed their studies and later become teachers will teach derivative concepts to their students at school. Therefore, knowledge of derivative concepts is vital in transforming knowledge to students.…

This paper extends work in the areas of quantitative reasoning and covariational reasoning at the undergraduate level. Task-based interviews were used to examine third-semester calculus students' reasoning about partial derivatives in five tasks, two of which are situated in a mathematics context. The other three tasks are situated in real-world…

This article aims to delve into the meaning of school mathematical concepts by their semantic analysis. Concretely, this paper aimed primarily to describe and characterize the meaning of derivative of a function at a point expressed by mathematics pre-service teachers. In order to achieve this goal, we use a semantic framework, in which the…

Of the many disciplines that rely on calculus, physics is among those with the strongest connections to this branch of mathematics. For instance, the derivative--one of the key notions of calculus--is used to describe velocity and acceleration, which play a central role in mechanics. In post-secondary education, in particular at the college level,…

Various studies have concluded that many students have difficulty understanding concepts related to function derivatives. One of the concepts in function derivatives is higher-order derivatives, primarily the nth derivative pattern. This study aims to: (1) identify various types of learning obstacles experienced by prospective mathematics teacher…

Introductory calculus classes at the college level are often used as "gatekeepers" or "filters" for science and engineering majors. However, some researchers have questioned whether calculus courses, as currently taught, are filtering students appropriately (Black & Hernandez-Martinez, 2016; Williams, 2012; Williams &…

The concept of derivative is used in many areas including applied problems and requiring mathematical modelling in different disciplines. One of the most important approaches for teaching the derivative is to support students in visualizing the concept. Also, it is necessary to shift researchers and teachers' focuses to students' dynamic mental…

This work aims to analyze the responses of a group of engineering students related to problems about tangents in a teaching learning process of derivative in a differential calculus course. The methodological design, oriented to a group of 161 students from two Chilean universities, considers different onto-semiotic configurations in…

Research results from this study reveal students have difficulties understanding and using of the concepts of average rate of change and the derivative function. Students in this study held multiple approach to understand the concepts that made it difficult to develop a strong understanding of the average rate of change and derivative function. In…

Derivational knowledge, the ability to understand and produce derivatives of a word, is essential for vocabulary learners to expand their lexical knowledge. Earlier research (e.g., Schmitt & Zimmerman, 2002) has shown that L2 learners may have limited ability to produce derivatives compared to L1 speakers. However, the degree to which…