Abstract:

Twenty-three Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) preservice elementary and middle school teachers enrolled in a large public university in the southwest United States explored position/time graphs using graphing calculators and simple, inexpensive motion detectors. Using preprogrammed position/time graphs and creating their own distance/time graphs, the preservice teachers worked in groups to match, generate and explain a variety of graphs. The purpose of this study was to investigate what ways the preservice teachers interpreted position/time and distance/time graphs with an emphasis on both understandings and misconceptions. Data were primarily gathered through a pretest and posttest focused on both quantitative and qualitative instruction. The results showed that initially the participants had difficulties interpreting position/time and distance/time graphs. However, after the completion of a three-week unit, they showed increased understanding of interpreting graphs and how the slopes influenced movement in a qualitative manner. However, preservice teachers continued to struggle with quantitative interpretations and calculations. Additionally, preservice teachers had difficultly identifying errors in non-examples that mistakenly interpreted position/time graphs as elevation/time graphs and a few were unable to distinguish between position/time and distance/time graphs. Even with the increased use of technology to connect distance/time and position/time graphs, the preservice elementary and middle school teachers still struggled with understanding what the graphs represented. Guidelines will be provided that focus on how to design lessons to address the graph misconceptions including: opportunities to interpret misunderstandings, opportunities to create a story and match the story with the graph using technology and a specific and direct connection to movement, slope and y-intercept. 

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