What's the Story? Key Idea(s) in Proof in Undergraduate Mathematics

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 43
  In Roundtable Session: The Assessment of STEM in Multiple Contexts

Abstract

The mathematics-education literature reveals an ongoing interest in fostering the students’ ability to reconstruct proofs. One promising tool to this end is the notion of “key idea”. This study investigates 1) how and how well students identify and formulate the key idea(s) of a proof; and 2) relationships between students’ performance in identifying and formulating key ideas of a proof and their subsequent ability to reconstruct it. Despite the considerable discrepancies in students’ key idea identification, the findings show that students’ proof reconstructions were closely aligned with key ideas that they identified, and suggest conditions of mathematics students’ success and causes of their struggle in proof reconstruction.

Authors

• Xiaoheng (Kitty) Yan, York University - Toronto

• Gila Hanna, University of Toronto

• John Mason, Oxford University