The University of Maryland offers a physics course as part of the Maryland Collaborative for Teachers' Preparation (MCTP) project. One of the course aims is to promote the learning of the concept of a function through the learning of physics. Students learn in small groups through problem solving and with the aid of microcomputer-based laboratories. Students are asked to examine and find connections between experiments, stories, graphs, and algebraic representations. Analysis of observations of students' group work in the course reveals that students' understanding of experiments and stories lead to different translations to graphical and algebraic representations. (Author/WRM)