Date of Award

1989

Type

Thesis

Major

Specialist in Education

Degree Type

Special Degree in Education in Mathematics Education

Department

Teacher Education

First Advisor

Dr. Mary M. Lindquist

Second Advisor

Dr. J. Kitt Lumley

Third Advisor

Dr. Carolyn M. Cartledge

Abstract

The author of this paper presents an original formula for creating polynomial functions with integral critical points and Integral zeros. This formula provides quickly constructed polynomial functions needed for teaching graphing techniques at the high school level. These functions have the characteristic that both coordinates of each critical point and each zero are integers, which simplifies graphing. A group of one hundred twenty high school mathematics teachers were sent questionnaires to determine if high school teachers would use the formula. Of the fifty-two respondents; twenty-six responded that they would use the formula; twenty-six responded that they may use the formula and no one responded that they would not use the formula. The survey revealed strong tendencies on the part of high school mathematics teachers to use the chalkboard approach to teaching graphing. This was found to be the case even in the larger and better equipped schools. It was concluded that with such a large amount of graphing being done without the use of computers, mathematics educators should not rely solely on computer techniques. Therefore, research is needed to find more techniques like the one presented in this paper that can be used by all mathematics educators, regardless of their preferred method of instruction.

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