NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
ERIC Number: EJ802698
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008
Pages: 5
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0045-0685
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
The Function Concept in Middle-Years Mathematics
Shield, Mal
Australian Mathematics Teacher, v64 n2 p36-40 2008
In this article, the author focuses on possible ways to develop the concepts of joint variation and function through the upper primary and lower secondary years of education. The examples demonstrate the building of a range of important mathematical ideas by modelling life-related situations using students' informal and intuitive knowledge. Over several years, ideas such as dependency, continuity, gradient, and function can be gradually formalised. Students are modelling life-related situations with functional relationships and representing the relationships in a variety of forms--tables, graphs, equations--and in everyday language. As students work with more complex functions, the need for syntactic manipulations of terms in symbolic equations arises and can be introduced in the context of the situation being modelled. Students can also be introduced to the use of technology in the forms of graphics calculators, CAS calculators, and spreadsheets as they work with functional models.
Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers (AAMT). GPO Box 1729, Adelaide 5001, South Australia. Tel: +61-8-8363-0288; Fax: +61-8-8362-9288; e-mail: office@aamt.edu.au; Web site: http://www.aamt.edu.au
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Middle Schools
Audience: Teachers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A