An expanded theoretical perspective for proof construction and its teaching

John Selden (1) , Annie Selden (1)

1 New Mexico State University

This paper presents a theoretical perspective for understanding and teaching university students' proof construction. It includes features of proof texts with which students may be unfamiliar. It considers psychological aspects of proving such as behavioral schemas, automaticity, working memory, consciousness, cognitive feelings, and local memory. We discuss proving actions, such as the construction of proof frameworks that could be automated, thereby reducing the burden on working memory and enabling university students to devote more resources to the truly hard parts of proofs.

Keywords: Proof construction; behavioral schemas; automaticity; consciousness; feelings

Domains: Mathematics [math]; Humanities and Social Sciences

John Selden, Annie Selden. An expanded theoretical perspective for proof construction and its teaching. CERME 10, Feb 2017, Dublin, Ireland. ⟨hal-01865647⟩