Secondary Education students’ preconceptions of slope

Abstract

This article reports an investigation whose objective was to identify Secondary Education students’ preconceptions of slope. A task-based interview was used to collect data from 30 10th grade students and the thematic analysis method for their respective analysis. The results indicate that the slope’s preconceptions evidenced by the students were the slope as length of the straight segment, an object, a physical property, the value of the angle, the intersection of the straight line with the axes, associated with an algebraic expression and the quotient of the values of the x and y intercepts. Although some students reported a first experience with the concept, this knowledge had minimal influence on their procedures and justifications.

Keywords

• pendiente
• preconcepciones
• entrevista basada en tareas
• análisis temático
• educación secundaria