High School Mathematics Teachers' Recognition of the Diagrammatic Register in Proof Problems

• In Event: Research in Secondary Mathematics Contexts

Abstract

We studied how 102 high school mathematics teachers recruited nationally (representing 90 schools in 30 states) responded to two sets of scenario-based items representing different ways proof problems could be presented in geometry: one in which givens and prove were stated in the diagrammatic register and one in which the statements departed from that register—giving students more opportunity to work on translating concepts to objects. Teachers were asked to rate scenarios for appropriateness; we found that scenarios that departed from the diagrammatic register were rated significantly lower than those that complied with it. This result illustrates teachers’ tacit recognition of instructional norms and raises questions about how to increase students’ opportunities to translate between concepts and objects in geometry.

Authors

• Patricio G. Herbst, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Justin Kelly Dimmel, University of Michigan

• Ander Willard Erickson, University of Michigan