This review analyzes, in the context of current mathematics education reform recommendations, literature related to graphics calculators, including results of some early studies assessing the impact of graphics calculators on the achievement and disposition of secondary and early college students. (25 references) (LZ)

Explores how the use of the graphics calculator may lead to changes in students' solution approaches and how these changes affect student achievement. Concludes that only prolonged use of the graphic calculator leads to enrichment of the solution repertoire of students and a better understanding of functions. (Contains 11 references.) (Author/ASK)

In a classroom environment in which continual access to graphing calculators is assumed, items that have been used to assess students' understanding of functions often are no longer appropriate. Describes strategies for modifying such items including requiring students to explain their reasoning, using calculator-active items, analyzing graphs and…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the TI-81 Graphics Calculator as an instructional tool on college algebra students' conceptual and procedural achievements involving functions and graphs and on the students' attitudes toward mathematics. The study was a posttest-only, equivalent control group design conducted with students…

Extends O'Callaghan's computer-intensive algebra study by using his component competencies and the process-object framework to investigate the effects of a graphing-approach curriculum employing the TI-82 graphing calculator. Concludes that students in the graphing-approach classes demonstrated significantly better understanding of functions on…

Algebra students typically pay little attention to choosing appropriate domains, ranges and scales of axes for graphing functions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of introducing an assignment and employing the graphing calculator to examine and alleviate students' difficulties regarding the selection of appropriate domains,…

Presents a study designed to explore whether a student's use of the graphing calculator during instruction will affect their concept of function, how students' participation in a conceptual change assignment affects their concept of function, and how the graphing calculator and the conceptual change assignment interact with one another to…

This paper documents how eight high school students in a precalculus class enhanced with graphing calculators think about functions. Three models of thinking about functions emerged from students' function images observed over a period of 9 months. In the graph model, students believed that functions are essentially graphs; in the equation model,…

This paper has two goals. The first is to present a model of the acquisition of a concept image of function. Theories describing the objectification of function are outlined through two different but related paths, and both stem from the conception of function as a process. The first path to objectification involves the generalization of the…

Develops an experimental teaching method emphasizing the nature of functions including graphical representation in an introductory college physics course (mechanics). Examines the effects of this method on student's problem solving and attitude toward physics. (YP)

Describes five college and two high school students' understandings of function and limit in a graphics calculator-based environment and identifies instances where students' understanding seems to have been influenced by the availability of a graphing calculator. (27 references) (MKR)

Develops and validates an instrument for determining student preferences for multiple representations of functions and establishes baseline data for future research. Students showed preferences for representations of functions which varied between contextualized and noncontextualized settings. Students' preferences for the two settings were more…

Summarizes research conducted within a series of professional development workshops for teachers in grades K-8 which emphasize basic reasoning skills, integrating manipulative materials, and technology. Demonstrates these principles using patterns, relations, and functions as examples. (Author/MKR)

In 1990, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) included a Trial State Assessment which, for the first time in the NAEP's history, made voluntary state-by-state assessments. This 1992 mathematics report marks the first attempt of the National Center for Education Statistics to shift to standards-based reporting of National…

In 1990, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) included a Trial State Assessment which, for the first time in the NAEP's history, made voluntary state-by-state assessments. This 1992 mathematics report marks the first attempt of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to shift to standards-based reporting of National…