Digital Commons Network^™

The Availability Of Spatial Information In A Situation Model, Christopher Mark Hakala

Doctoral Dissertations

Four experiments were conducted to determine the availability of spatial information from a situation model. In Experiment 1, participants were told to either focus on spatial information while reading the texts or to read for comprehension. At the end of each text, participants were presented with a probe word to name. The probe word was either spatially associated or dissociated with the final spatial location of the main character. Participants named the spatial probe more quickly only when told to focus on spatial information. Experiment 2 used reading time as a dependent measure to determine ease of integration of spatially …

An Investigation Into Students' Conceptual Understandings Of The Graphical Representation Of Polynomial Functions, Judith Ellen Curran

Doctoral Dissertations

Mathematics educators are realizing the impact that technology is having on the way mathematical functions can be represented and manipulated. The increased use of graphing technology in the classroom is paralleled by an increased emphasis on the role of the graphical representation of a function to solve problems. These changes together with a recognition of the significance and complexity of developing a rich understanding of the graphical representations of polynomial functions are the motivation behind this research.

The study was designed to explore students' conceptual understandings of the graphs of polynomial functions. Guided by a constructivist approach to conceptual change, …