An exploratory study of spontaneous representations of covariational reasoning in middle school students

Ulises García-Teutli; José Antonio Juárez-López

doi:10.29333/iejme/14386

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Ulises García-Teutli ¹ ^* , José Antonio Juárez-López ¹

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¹ Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, MEXICO^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Although student covariation reasoning has been explored in depth to improve understanding of the correspondence between variables, research has focused on studying existing reasoning about variables in Cartesian representations. The working method had a qualitative approach, with a descriptive exploratory scope, the spontaneous representations that the participants evidenced under the level of covariational reasoning of the variables present in three contextualized situations were explored, posed to a population of third-grade middle school students. The students argued with concrete and abstract drawings the general behavior of the variables. At low levels of reasoning they used pictorial representations, at higher levels they used graphical diagrams and tables. The exploratory study shows a relationship between the type of spontaneous representations and the student’s level of covariational reasoning, as well as the rigor of the description of the problem.

Keywords

covariation
spontaneous representation
exploratory study
covariational reasoning
middle school students

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

INT ELECT J MATH ED, 2024, Volume 19, Issue 2, Article No: em0774

https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/14386

Publication date: 01 Apr 2024

Online publication date: 22 Mar 2024

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How to cite this article

APA

García-Teutli, U., & Juárez-López, J. A. (2024). An exploratory study of spontaneous representations of covariational reasoning in middle school students. International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, 19(2), em0774. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/14386

Vancouver

García-Teutli U, Juárez-López JA. An exploratory study of spontaneous representations of covariational reasoning in middle school students. INT ELECT J MATH ED. 2024;19(2):em0774. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/14386

AMA

García-Teutli U, Juárez-López JA. An exploratory study of spontaneous representations of covariational reasoning in middle school students. INT ELECT J MATH ED. 2024;19(2), em0774. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/14386

Chicago

García-Teutli, Ulises, and José Antonio Juárez-López. "An exploratory study of spontaneous representations of covariational reasoning in middle school students". International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education 2024 19 no. 2 (2024): em0774. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/14386

Harvard

García-Teutli, U., and Juárez-López, J. A. (2024). An exploratory study of spontaneous representations of covariational reasoning in middle school students. International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, 19(2), em0774. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/14386

MLA

García-Teutli, Ulises et al. "An exploratory study of spontaneous representations of covariational reasoning in middle school students". International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, vol. 19, no. 2, 2024, em0774. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/14386