The Identification Difficulty of Quantitative Reasoning Process toward the Calculus Students' Covariation Problem

Abstract

This study aims to identify the calculus students' difficulties who involve in the process of quantitative reasoning toward covariation problems. The students of mathematics education program who are taking the calculus involve as the subject in this research. The research process is done in some stages; namely: first, assigning covariation problem within 60 minutes. Second, correcting and selecting the results that show the student's difficulties of the covariation problem, then it is followed by confirming students' answers through task-based interview process. Further, the process analyzed qualitatively by describing the students' difficulties in the reasoning process. The research results are the calculus students' difficulties descriptions in quantitative reasoning problems of covariation process, including: 1) the difficulties in building quantitative structures to generate new quantities; 2) the difficulties in identifying the curved graph on the covariation problem due to the tendency of linear quantity construction; 3) there was 86,27% calculus students have difficulties in the quantitative reasoning toward covariation problem process.