ERIC Number: EJ1052055
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0020-739X
EISSN: N/A
A Framework for Characterizing Students' Thinking about Logical Statements and Truth Tables
Hawthorne, Casey; Rasmussen, Chris
International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, v46 n3 p337-353 2015
While a significant amount of research has been devoted to exploring why university students struggle applying logic, limited work can be found on how students actually make sense of the notational and structural components used in association with logic. We adapt the theoretical framework of unitizing and reification, which have been effectively used to explain the types of integrated understanding required to make sense of symbols involved in numerical computation and algebraic manipulation, to investigate students' conceptualizations of truth tables and implication statements. We put forth a two-dimensional space consisting of two continua as a framework to analyse the degree to which students' thinking is compartmentalized or unified. Results indicate that students tend to treat the constituent pieces that make up these mechanisms independently without an understanding of each as a whole or an integrated view of the two together. This fragmented treatment is contrasted with the instructor's unified view of both truth tables and implication statements.
Descriptors: College Students, Logical Thinking, Mathematical Logic, Abstract Reasoning, Computation, Algebra, Validity, Coding, Mathematical Concepts, Semi Structured Interviews
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A