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Full Length
Research Paper
Selection and resolution of function problems and their
effects on student learning
Ibrahim Bayazit
Faculty of Education, Erciyes University, / Kayseri/ Turkey.
E-mail:
ibayazit@erciyes.edu.tr , Tel: +90 352 4374901/37110.
Fax: +90 352 4378834.
Accepted 21 October, 2011
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This paper examines two experienced Turkish teachers’, Ahmet
and Burak, selection and implementation of function problems
and relates this to the quality of their students’
understanding of this notion. The research findings indicate
that regardless of the task quality Ahmet engages, through
process-oriented teaching, his students with the notion of
function and this encourages them to develop a process
conception of function. In contrast, Burak makes reductions,
thorough action-oriented teaching, in the task demands. He
emphasises rules, procedures and the factual knowledge
associated with the representational systems, and this
appears to confine his students’ understanding to an action
conception of function. The evidence suggests that tasks
should not be seen as a panacea; it is the teacher’s
expertise in creating task conditions (for example,
establishing links between the ideas and between the
representations, using process-oriented language) that may
promote student learning.
Key words:
Task selection, task implementation, task condition,
action-oriented teaching, process-oriented teaching,
action-process conceptions of function.
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