Handling Signs in Inequalities by Exploiting Multiple Dynamic Representations – the Case of ALNuSet

Springer Science and Business Media LLC - Tập 3 - Trang 39-69 - 2017
Athanasia Balomenou1, Vassilis Komis1, Konstantinos Zacharos1
1Department of Educational Sciences and Early Childhood Education, University of Patras, Patras, Greece

Tóm tắt

This article presents a research work aimed to study the role of computational tools in the conceptualization of algebraic properties according to the conceptual framework of instrumental genesis and the Design-Function-Tasks (DeFT) framework of multiple representations at Junior high school level. It concerns a didactical approach which takes advantage of the semiotic representations available by the computational tool ALNuSet in a way that could support students to understand the changing of signs while multiplying inequalities with negative numbers. Forty-eight subjects of the 2nd grade of Greek Junior high school, 13–14 years old, participated in our experiment. We engaged our students in an activity concerning the change of the direction in inequalities when we multiply them by negative quantities, by exploiting the functionalities available in the Algebraic line component of ALNuSet. A qualitative analysis of the data shows that the subjects of the study benefit from ALNuSet in the construction of mental representations and instrumented techniques regarding the handling of signs in inequalities, and, through visualization, seem to conceptualize the property under investigation.

Tài liệu tham khảo

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