'Universidad de Alicante Servicio de Publicaciones'
Abstract
Reflecting on the nature of mathematics is an important activity for undergraduate students. To analyse students’ reflection, we address the questions how students categorize mathematics in the system of scientific disciplines and what arguments they use to support their decision, in particular. In an online-survey, we implemented two open-ended items to gather information about the meta-scientific reflection of 296 undergraduate students enrolled in a mathematics-related study program. By analysing students’ answers, we identified nine subthemes that can be grouped in three themes: (1) the content, (2) the method, and (3) the purpose of mathematics. Most of the students concentrated on only one of the three themes. Based on these results, we discuss in which way prompts can support students’ meta-scientific reflection
