Integration through a Card-Sort Activity

Abstract

Learning to compute integrals via the various techniques of integration (e.g., integration by parts, partial fractions, etc.) is difficult for many students. Here, we look at how students in a college level Calculus II course develop the ability to categorize integrals and the difficulties they encounter using a card sort-resort activity. Analysis of the data required the use of several non-standard techniques which provided interesting insights into the ways students develop categories in mathematics. One finding of note is that students may need a significant amount of time “off topic” to allow sufficient time to fully organize their schema for integration.

Keywords::

• integration
• categorization
• card sort task
• student learning