The role of the graphic calculator as a mediating sign in the zones of proximal development of students studying a first-year university mathematical course
| dc.contributor.author | Berger, Margot | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2014-07-10T10:25:54Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2014-07-10T10:25:54Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2014-07-10 | |
| dc.description | Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Science (Science Education), 1996. | en_ZA |
| dc.description.abstract | This study explores ways in which first-year mathematics students use calculator as a tool of semiotic mediation. Twenty students out of a class of one hundred were loaned a graphic calculator for the academic year and were encouraged to use these during support tutorials. at year-end seven students (four with graphic calculator, three without) were audio-taped while solving a mathematical problem aloud in an interview situation. Also statistical data comparing graphic calculator and non-graphic calculator students' performance on a set of five questions was collected. The qualitative analysis of the interview data suggests that the calculator functioned primarily as a tool which amplified the zones of proximal development of the students, increasing efficiency and speed, rather than a semiotic which had been internalised. The quantitative analysis of the statistical data failed to support this notion of amplification. It is suggested that the add-on status of the graphic calculator undermined the possibility for statistical significance on this amplification effect. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net10539/14895 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_ZA |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Calculators | |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Mathematics--Study and teaching (Higher) | |
| dc.title | The role of the graphic calculator as a mediating sign in the zones of proximal development of students studying a first-year university mathematical course | en_ZA |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_ZA |