Lectures in Advanced Mathematics: Why Students Might Not Understand What the Mathematics Professor Is Trying to Convey

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Kristen Lew Rutgers University

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Timothy Patrick Fukawa-Connelly Temple University

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Juan Pablo Mejía-Ramos Rutgers University

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Keith Weber Rutgers University

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We describe a case study in which we investigate the effectiveness of a lecture in advanced mathematics. We first videorecorded a lecture delivered by an experienced professor who had a reputation for being an outstanding instructor. Using video recall, we then interviewed the professor to determine the ideas that he intended to convey and how he tried to convey these ideas in this lecture. We also interviewed 6 students to see what they understood from this lecture. The students did not comprehend the ideas that the professor cited as central to his lecture. Based on our analyses, we propose 2 factors to account for why students did not understand these ideas.

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Contributor Notes

Kristen Lew, Graduate School of Education, Rutgers University, 10 Seminary Place, New Brunswick, NJ 08901; kristen.lew@gse.rutgers.edu

Timothy Patrick Fukawa-Connelly, College of Education, Temple University, 1301 Cecil B. Moore Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19122; Tim.fc@temple.edu

Juan Pablo Mejía-Ramos, Graduate School of Education, Rutgers University, 10 Seminary Place, New Brunswick, NJ 08901; pablo.mejia@gse.rutgers.edu

Keith Weber, Graduate School of Education, Rutgers University, 10 Seminary Place, New Brunswick, NJ 08901; keith.weber@gse.rutgers.edu

(Corresponding author is Lew kristen.lew@gse.rutgers.edu)
(Corresponding author is Fukawa-Connelly Tim.fc@temple.edu)
(Corresponding author is Mejía-Ramos pablo.mejia@gse.rutgers.edu)
(Corresponding author is Weber keith.weber@gse.rutgers.edu)
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Journal for Research in Mathematics Education
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