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Revealing educationally critical aspects of rate

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Abstract

Rate (of change) is an important but complicated mathematical concept describing a ratio comparing two different numeric, measurable quantities. Research referring to students’ difficulties with this concept spans more than 20 years. It suggests that problems experienced by some calculus students are likely a result of pre-existing limited or incorrect conceptions of rate. This study investigated 20 Australian Year 10 students’ understanding of rate as revealed by phenomenographic analysis of interviews. Eight conceptions of rate emerged, leading to the identification of four educationally critical aspects of the concept which address gaps in students’ thinking. In addition, the employment of phenomenography, to reveal conceptions of rate, is described in detail.

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Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this paper appeared in the conference proceedings of MERGA 2009: MERGA32 Wellington, NZ. The authors also wish to thank the editor and reviewers for their work that contributed to the quality of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University, PO Box 423, Warrnambool, VIC, 3280, Australia

    Sandra Herbert

  2. Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, 3010, Australia

    Robyn Pierce

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  1. Sandra Herbert
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Correspondence to Sandra Herbert.

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Herbert, S., Pierce, R. Revealing educationally critical aspects of rate. Educ Stud Math 81, 85–101 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-011-9368-4

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