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The role of authorial context in mathematicians’ evaluations of proof

Davies, B; Miller, D; Infante, N; (2021) The role of authorial context in mathematicians’ evaluations of proof. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology , 54 (5) pp. 725-739. 10.1080/0020739x.2021.1966531. Green open access

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Abstract

We report on a series of task-based interviews in which nine mathematicians were asked to evaluate a series of six mathematical arguments, purportedly produced either by fellow mathematicians or undergraduate students. In this paper, we attend to the role of context in mathematicians’ responses, leading to four themes in expectations when evaluating the proofs that they read. First, mathematicians’ evaluations of identical arguments were sensitive to researchers’ manipulation of authorship, with most accepting arguments purportedly produced by a colleague while taking a more critical view of that same argument if produced by an undergraduate student. Our thematic analysis of interview responses led to three context-based factors influencing mathematicians’ responses when evaluating student-produced texts: course goals, instructors’ expectations, and assessment type. In the final section, we consider implications for researchers focused on understanding common practice amongst mathematicians as well as the pedagogic consequences of our findings for practice in the classroom.

Type: Article
Title: The role of authorial context in mathematicians’ evaluations of proof
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1080/0020739x.2021.1966531
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1080/0020739X.2021.1966531
Language: English
Additional information: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Keywords: Proof, Grading, Assessment, Task-based interviews, Contextual understanding
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Mathematics
URI: https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10137914
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