Decision making in the classroom; when mathematics teaching and statistical reasoning meet each other
| Autor: | Mahmood, Munir, Murray, Lori L., Zitikis, Ricardas, Mahmood, Ibtihal |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: | |
| Popis: | Zero factorial, defined to be one, is often counterintuitive to students but nonetheless an interesting concept to convey in a classroom environment. The challenge is to delineate the concept in a simple and effective way through the practice of justification, a familiar concept in mathematics and science education. In this regard, the contribution of this article is two-fold: First, it reveals and makes contribution to much simpler justifications on the notion of zero factorial to be one when compared to previous studies in the area. Second, to assess the effectiveness of the proposed justifications, an online survey has been conducted at a comprehensive university and, via its statistical analysis, data-driven instructional decisionmaking has been illustrated. Elaborating on the first contribution, we note that the connection of zero factorial to the definition of the gamma function provides a first-hand conceptual understanding of the concept of zero factorial. But for the purpose of teaching, it is not particularly helpful from the pedagogical point of view in early years of study, as it is quite challenging to explain the rationale behind the origin of the definite integral that defines the gamma function. In this regard two algebraic and one statistical justification are presented. The squeeze theorem plays a pivotal role in this article. To assess the effectiveness of the justifications pedagogically, an online survey was conducted at a Canadian university. 17 pages, 3 figures, 4 tables |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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