Students’ whole number multiplicative concepts: A critical constructive resource for fraction composition schemes

This article reports on the activity of two pairs of sixth grade students who participated in an 8-month teaching experiment that investigated the students’ construction of fraction composition schemes. A fraction composition scheme consists of the operations and concepts used to determine, for example, the size of 1/3 of 1/5 of a whole in relation to the whole. Students’ whole number multiplicative concepts were found to be critical constructive resources for students’ fraction composition schemes. Specifically, the interiorization of two levels of units, a particular multiplicative concept, was found to be necessary for the construction of a unit fraction composition scheme, while the interiorization of three levels of units was necessary for the construction of a general fraction composition scheme. These findings contribute to previous research on students’ construction of fraction multiplication that has emphasized partitioning and conceptualizing quantitative units. Implications of the findings for teaching are considered.     

The fractional knowledge and algebraic reasoning of students with the first multiplicative concept

To understand relationships between students’ quantitative reasoning with fractions and their algebraic reasoning, a clinical interview study was conducted with 18 middle and high school students. Six students with each of three different multiplicative concepts participated. This paper reports on the fractional knowledge and algebraic reasoning of six students with the most basic multiplicative concept. The fractional knowledge of these students was found to be consistent with prior research, in that the students had constructed partitioning and iteration operations but not disembedding operations, and that the students conceived of fractions as parts within wholes. The students’ iterating operations facilitated their work on algebra problems, but the lack of disembedding operations was a significant constraint in writing algebraic equations and expressions, as well as in generalizing relationships. Implications for teaching these students are discussed.     

A quantitative analysis of children's splitting operations and fraction schemes

Teaching experiments with pairs of children have generated several hypotheses about students’ construction of fractions. For example, Steffe (2004) hypothesized that robust conceptions of improper fractions depends on the development of a splitting operation. Results from teaching experiments that rely on scheme theory and Steffe's hierarchy of fraction schemes imply additional hypotheses, such as the idea that the schemes do indeed form a hierarchy. Our study constitutes the first attempt to test these hypotheses and substantiate Steffe's claims using quantitative methods. We analyze data from 84 students’ performances on written tests, in order to measure students’ development of the splitting operation and construction of fraction schemes. Our findings align with many of the hypotheses implied by teaching experiments and, additionally, suggest that students’ construction of a partitive fraction scheme facilitates the development of splitting.     

The construction of an iterative fractional scheme: the case of Joe

In his paper on A New Hypothesis Concerning Children’s Fractional Knowledge, Steffe (2002) demonstrated through the case study of Jason and Laura how children might construct their fractional knowledge through reorganization of their number sequences. He described the construction of a new kind of number sequence that we refer to as a connected number sequence (CNS). A CNS can result from the application of a child’s explicitly nested number sequence, ENS (Steffe, L. P. (1992). Learning and Individual Differences, 4(3), 259–309; Steffe, L. P. (1994). Children’s multiplying schemes. In: G. Harel, & J. Confrey (Eds.), (pp. 3–40); Steffe, L. P. (2002). Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 102, 1–41) in the context of continuous quantities. It requires the child to incorporate a notion of unit length into the abstract unit items of their ENS. Connected numbers were instantiated by the children within the context of making number-sticks using the computer tool TIMA: sticks. Steffe conjectured that children who had constructed a CNS might be able to use their multiplying schemes to construct composite unit fractions. (In the context of number-sticks a composite unit fraction could be a 3-stick as 1/8 of a 24-stick.) In the case of Jason and Laura, his conjecture was not confirmed. Steffe attributed the constraints that Jason and Laura experienced as possibly stemming from their lack of a splitting operation for composite units. In this paper we shall demonstrate, using the case study of Joe, how a child might construct the splitting operation for composite units, and how such a child was able to not only confirm Steffe’s conjecture concerning composite unit fractions, but also give support to our reorganization hypothesis by constructing an iterative fractional scheme (and consequently, a fractional connected number sequence (FCNS)) as a reorganization of his ENS.     

“Approximate” multiplicative relationships between quantitative unknowns

Three 18-session design experiments were conducted, each with 6–9 7th and 8th grade students, to investigate relationships between students’ rational number knowledge and algebraic reasoning. Students were to represent in drawings and equations two multiplicatively related unknown heights (e.g., one was 5 times another). Twelve of the 22 participating students operated with the second multiplicative concept, which meant they viewed known quantities as units of units, or two-levels-of-units structures, but not as three-levels-of-units structures. These students were challenged to represent multiplicative relationships between unknowns: They changed the given relationship, did not think of the relationship as multiplicative until after concerted work, and used numerical values in lieu of unknowns. Our account for these challenges is that students needed to simplify the involved units coordinations. Ultimately students abstracted the relationship as multiplicative, but the exact relationship was not certain or had to be constituted in activity. Implications for teaching are explored.     

Looking at the complexity of two young children's understanding of number

This paper presents a qualitative study that investigated two third-grade students’ understanding of number. The children were videotaped while they worked to record everything they knew about the number, 72. Their artifacts and conversations were then analyzed using the Pirie-Kieren dynamical theory for the growth of mathematical understanding as the theoretical framework. The results of the video analysis revealed the two students’ understanding of natural numbers as being conceptually complex and existing in several different realms of the Pirie-Kieren model. Significant instances of Primitive Knowing, Image Making, Image Having, Property Noticing, Formalizing, Observing, as well as how the children's understanding existed beyond “Don’t Need” Boundaries are identified and examined in detail. Other features of the model — Structuring, Inventising, Folding Back, and Connected Understanding - are also explained and possible examples illustrating these kinds of mathematical thinking in relation to the two children's understanding of number are offered.     

From fractions to proportional reasoning: a cognitive schemes of operation approach

Four seventh grade students participated in a constructivist teaching experiment in which manipulatives within a computer microworld were used to solve fractional reasoning tasks followed by tasks that involve concepts of rate, ratio and proportion. Through a retrospective analysis of video tapes, their thinking processes were analyzed from the perspective of the types of cognitive schemes of operation used as they engaged in the given problem situations. One result of the study indicates that the modifications of the students’ available schemes of operation when solving the fractional reasoning tasks formed a basis for the cognitive schemes of operation used in their solutions of tasks involving proportionality.     

Supporting the development of algebraic thinking in middle school: a closer look at students’ informal strategies

This study investigated how 31 sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade middle school students who had not previously, nor were currently taking a formal Algebra course, approached word problems of an algebraic nature. Specifically, these algebraic word problems were of the form x + (x + a) + (x + b) = c or ax + bx + cx = d. An examination of students’ understanding of the relationships expressed in the problems and how they used this information to solve problems was conducted. Data included the students’ written responses to problems, field notes of researcher-student interactions while working on the problems, and follow-up interviews. Results showed that students had many informal strategies for solving the problems with systematic guess and check being the most common approach. Analysis of researcher-student interactions while working on the problems revealed ways in which students struggled to engage in the problems. Support mechanisms for students who struggle with these problems are suggested. Finally, implications are provided for drawing upon students’ informal and intuitive knowledge to support the development of algebraic thinking.     

High school students’ understandings of geometric transformations in the context of a technological environment

This study investigated the nature of students’ understandings of geometric transformations, which included translations, reflections, rotations, and dilations, in the context of the technological tool, The Geometer’s Sketchpad. The researcher implemented a seven-week instructional unit on geometric transformations within an Honors Geometry class. Students’ conceptions of transformations as functions were analyzed using the APOS theory and were informed by an analysis of students’ interpretations and uses of representations of geometrical objects using the constructs of drawing and figure. The analysis suggests students’ understandings of key concepts including domain, variables and parameters, and relationships and properties of transformations were critical for supporting the development of deeper understandings of transformations as functions.     

A geometry teacher's use of a metaphor in relation to a prototypical image to help students remember a set of theorems

This article asks the following: How does a teacher use a metaphor in relation to a prototypical image to help students remember a set of theorems? This question is analyzed through the case of a geometry teacher. The analysis uses Duval's work on the apprehension of diagrams to investigate how the teacher used a metaphor to remind students about the heuristics involved when applying a set of theorems during a problem-based lesson. The findings show that the teacher used the metaphor to help students recall the apprehensions of diagrams when applying several theorems. The metaphor was instrumental for mediating students’ work on a problem and the proof of a new theorem. The findings suggest that teachers’ use of metaphors in relation to prototypical images may facilitate how they organize students’ knowledge for later retrieval.     

Algebra word problem solving approaches in a chemistry context: Equation worked examples versus text editing

Text editing directs students’ attention to the problem structure as they classify whether the texts of word problems contain sufficient, missing or irrelevant information for working out a solution. Equation worked examples emphasize the formation of a coherent problem structure to generate a solution. Its focus is on the construction of three equation steps each of which comprises essential units of relevant information. In an experiment, students were randomly assigned to either text editing or equation worked examples condition in a regular classroom setting to learn how to solve algebra word problems in a chemistry context. The equation worked examples group outperformed the text editing group for molarity problems, which were more difficult than dilution problems. Empirical evidence supports the theoretical rationale in using equation worked examples to facilitate students’ construction of a coherent problem structure so as to develop problem skills and expertise to solve molarity problems.     

A family of cyclic cubic polynomials whose roots are systems of fundamental units

We give a family of cyclic cubic polynomials whose roots are systems of fundamental units of the splitting fields. These polynomials are constructed by a linear fractional transformation from Shanks’ polynomials with rational coefficients.     

Multiplicative preprojective algebras, middle convolution and the Deligne-Simpson problem

We introduce a family of algebras which are multiplicative analogues of preprojective algebras, and their deformations, as introduced by M.P. Holland and the first author. We show that these algebras provide a natural setting for the ‘middle convolution’ operation introduced by N.M. Katz in his book ‘Rigid local systems’, and put in an algebraic setting by M. Dettweiler and S. Reiter, and H. Völklein. We prove a homological formula relating the dimensions of Hom and Ext spaces, study varieties of representations of multiplicative preprojective algebras, and use these results to study simple representations. We apply this work to the Deligne-Simpson problem, obtaining a sufficient (and conjecturally necessary) condition for the existence of an irreducible solution to the equation A₁A₂…A_k=1 with the A_i in prescribed conjugacy classes in GL_n(C).     

Ring structures on groups of arithmetic functions

Using the theory of Witt vectors, we define ring structures on several well-known groups of arithmetic functions, which in another guise are formal Dirichlet series. The set of multiplicative arithmetic functions over a commutative ring R is shown to have a unique functorial ring structure for which the operation of addition is Dirichlet convolution and the operation of multiplication restricted to the completely multiplicative functions coincides with point-wise multiplication. The group of additive arithmetic functions over R also has a functorial ring structure. In analogy with the ghost homomorphism of Witt vectors, there is a functorial ring homomorphism from the ring of multiplicative functions to the ring of additive functions that is an isomorphism if R is a Q-algebra. The group of rational arithmetic functions, that is, the group generated by the completely multiplicative functions, forms a subring of the ring of multiplicative functions. The latter ring has the structure of a Bin(R)-algebra, where Bin(R) is the universal binomial ring equipped with a ring homomorphism to R. We use this algebra structure to study the order of a rational arithmetic function, as well the powersfα for α∈Bin(R) of a multiplicative arithmetic function f. For example, we prove new results about the powers of a given multiplicative arithmetic function that are rational. Finally, we apply our theory to the study of the zeta function of a scheme of finite type over Z.     

Secondary school students’ levels of understanding in computing exponents

The aim of this study is to describe and analyze students’ levels of understanding of exponents within the context of procedural and conceptual learning via the conceptual change and prototypes’ theory. The study was conducted with 202 secondary school students with the use of a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The results suggest that three levels of understanding can be identified. At the first level students’ interpretation of exponents is based upon exponents that symbolize natural numbers. At Level 2, students’ knowledge acquisition process is a process of enrichment of the existing conceptual structures. Students at this level are able to compute exponents with negative numbers by extending the application of prototype examples. Finally, at Level 3 students not only extend the prototype examples but also reorganize their thinking in order to compute and compare exponents with roots, a concept which is quite different from the concept of exponents with natural numbers.     

Reinventing the formal definition of limit: The case of Amy and Mike

Relatively little is known about how students come to reason coherently about the formal definition of limit. While some have conjectured how students might think about limits formally, there is insufficient empirical evidence of students making sense of the conventional ?-δ definition. This paper provides a detailed account of a teaching experiment designed to produce such empirical data. In a ten-week teaching experiment, two students, neither of whom had previously seen the conventional ?-δ definition of limit, reinvented a formal definition of limit capturing the intended meaning of the conventional definition. This paper focuses on the evolution of the students’ definition, and serves not only as an existence proof that students can reinvent a coherent definition of limit, but also as an illustration of how students might reason as they reinvent such a definition.     

The space fractional diffusion equation with Feller’s operator

This paper investigates the space fractional diffusion equation with fractional Feller’s operator. The Green’s function is obtained by using Fourier transform, and the analytical solutions of some space fractional diffusion equations with initial (or initial and boundary) condition are obtained in terms of Green’s function. In addition, numerical simulations are discussed. The results indicate that the effect range of skewness parameter θ has more effect on probability density than that of parameter α. The results also explain the property of the skewness and long tail in the asymmetry diffusion process.     

Why do U.S. and Chinese students think differently in mathematical problem solving?: Impact of early algebra learning and teachers’ beliefs

This paper reports two studies that examined the impact of early algebra learning and teachers’ beliefs on U.S. and Chinese students’ thinking. The first study examined the extent to which U.S. and Chinese students’ selection of solution strategies and representations is related to their opportunity to learn algebra. The second study examined the impact of teachers’ beliefs on their students’ thinking through analyzing U.S. and Chinese teachers’ scoring of student responses. The results of the first study showed that, for the U.S. sample, students who have formally learned algebraic concepts are as likely to use visual representations as those who have not formally learned algebraic concepts in their problem solving. For the Chinese sample, students rarely used visual representations whether or not they had formally learned algebraic concepts. The findings of the second study clearly showed that U.S. and Chinese teachers view students’ responses involving concrete strategies and visual representations differently. Moreover, although both U.S. and Chinese teachers value responses involving more generalized strategies and symbolic representations equally high, Chinese teachers expect 6th graders to use the generalized strategies to solve problems while U.S. teachers do not. The research reported in this paper contributed to our understanding of the differences between U.S. and Chinese students’ mathematical thinking. This research also established the feasibility of using teachers’ scoring of student responses as an alternative and effective way of examining teachers’ beliefs.     

The geometry of Hrushovski constructions, I: The uncollapsed case

An intermediate stage in Hrushovski’s construction of flat strongly minimal structures in a relational language L produces ω-stable structures of rank ω. We analyze the pregeometries given by forking on the regular type of rank ω in these structures. We show that varying L can affect the (local) isomorphism type of the pregeometry, but not its finite subpregeometries. A sequel will compare these to the pregeometries of the strongly minimal structures.