SITUATED COGNITION AND STUDENTS ’ CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING OF ELEMENTARY CALCULUS

Abstract

According to the situation cognition perspective, knowledge and thinking are inextricably intertwined with the physical and social situations in which it occurs. The implication is that learning situations should be embedded in authentic problem situations that have meaning for the students. This study investigates the effects of two teaching approaches (or strategies) on students ’ conceptual understanding of differential calculus. These approaches were the Unify Model and Situated Cognition Approach. BACKGROUND The value of skill-based calculus courses has also come under fire because computers and calculators now perform most of the manipulative procedures taught in such courses. Hughes-Hallet (1994) points out that what has become inescapable is the impact computers and calculators are having on what we teach: computers and calculators can now easily compute definite integrals, sketch graphs, solve equations, and find high powers of matrices and are able to do the algebraic manipulations that have been the backbone of high school mathematics for decades. Serious question