Abstract/Description:
In this study we investigated how a small sample of students used variational reasoning while discussing ordinary differential equations. We found that students had flexibility in thinking of rate as an object, while simultaneously unpacking it in the same reasoning instance. We also saw that many elements of covariational reasoning and multivariational reasoning already discussed in the literature were used by the students. However, and importantly, new aspects of variational reasoning were identified in this study, including: (a) a type of variational reasoning not yet reported in the literature that we call “feedback variation” and (b) new types of objects, different from numeric-quantities, that the students covaried.
Presenter:
George Kuster, Christopher Newport University and Steven Jones, Brigham Young University