A group as a 'special set'? Implications of ignoring the role of the binary operation in the definition of a group

Iannone, P. and Nardi, Elena (2002) A group as a 'special set'? Implications of ignoring the role of the binary operation in the definition of a group. In: 26th Annual Conference of the International Group for Psychology in Mathematics Education, 2002-01-01.

Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)

Abstract

This paper builds on a developing area of research in mathematics education that focuses on students' learning of abstract mathematical concepts such as Groups in Abstract Algebra. It draws on a Nuffield study of Year 2 mathematics undergraduates' written responses to Group Theory problems and its analysis indicates students' problematic perceptions of Groups. For example, students do not see a group as a pair (a set with a binary operation) but merely as a 'special set' whose elements hold certain properties as determined by the group axioms. The paper focuses on implications of such problematic perceptions: for example, seeing a group as a special set' implies that students occasionally omit checking for Associativity (especially when the group is presented in the form of a table) and neglect elements of its inner structure. This paper was peer-reviewed and presented at an international conference with a 60% contribution by Iannone.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Education and Lifelong Learning
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Research in Mathematics Education
Depositing User:	Vishal Gautam
Date Deposited:	01 Jul 2002
Last Modified:	10 Aug 2021 23:49
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/16667
DOI:

Actions (login required)

View Item