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Reasoning About Motion: A Case Study, Tiffini Lynn Glaze

Theses and Dissertations

Several dance and industrial design students were given the opportunity to attend a non-traditional mathematics course. The nature of this course prompted student interaction and expected collaboration. My research focuses on one dance student, Sara, who did not consider herself a strong mathematics student, but who understood physical motion very well. This paper explores the evolution of Sara's representations for physical motion in a given task, and discusses her reasoning for keeping or dismissing various parts of her representations during the course of this task. I examine first how Sara learns mathematics with understanding in this task, and second how …