Lectures in advanced mathematics: Why students might not understand what the mathematics professor is trying to convey

Kristen Lew, Timothy Patrick Fukawa-Connelly, Juan Pablo Mejía-Ramos, Keith Weber

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

49 Scopus citations

Abstract

We describe a case study in which we investigate the effectiveness of a lecture in advanced mathematics. We first videorecorded a lecture delivered by an experienced professor who had a reputation for being an outstanding instructor. Using video recall, we then interviewed the professor to determine the ideas that he intended to convey and how he tried to convey these ideas in this lecture. We also interviewed 6 students to see what they understood from this lecture. The students did not comprehend the ideas that the professor cited as central to his lecture. Based on our analyses, we propose 2 factors to account for why students did not understand these ideas.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)162-198
Number of pages37
JournalJournal for Research in Mathematics Education
Volume47
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2016

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Mathematics (miscellaneous)
  • Education

Keywords

  • Lecture
  • Undergraduate mathematics education

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