Marinos Anastasakis - An Activity Theory approach in explaining

Journal article

Marinos Anastasakis, Maria Zakynthinaki, Rodrigo Trujillo-González, Israel García-Alonso
International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, vol. 53(6), 2022, pp. 1571-1587

DOI: 10.1080/0020739X.2020.1834156

Cite

APA Click to copy
Anastasakis, M., Zakynthinaki, M., Trujillo-González, R., & García-Alonso, I. (2022). An Activity Theory approach in explaining engineering students’ difficulties with university mathematics. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 53(6), 1571–1587. https://doi.org/10.1080/0020739X.2020.1834156

Chicago/Turabian Click to copy
Anastasakis, Marinos, Maria Zakynthinaki, Rodrigo Trujillo-González, and Israel García-Alonso. “An Activity Theory Approach in Explaining Engineering Students’ Difficulties with University Mathematics.” International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology 53, no. 6 (2022): 1571–1587.

MLA Click to copy
Anastasakis, Marinos, et al. “An Activity Theory Approach in Explaining Engineering Students’ Difficulties with University Mathematics.” International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, vol. 53, no. 6, 2022, pp. 1571–87, doi:10.1080/0020739X.2020.1834156.

BibTeX Click to copy

@article{marinos2022a,
  title = {An Activity Theory approach in explaining engineering students’ difficulties with university mathematics},
  year = {2022},
  issue = {6},
  journal = { International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology},
  pages = {1571-1587},
  volume = {53},
  doi = {10.1080/0020739X.2020.1834156},
  author = {Anastasakis, Marinos and Zakynthinaki, Maria and Trujillo-González, Rodrigo and García-Alonso, Israel}
}

Abstract
In this paper we explore the difficulties engineering undergraduates encounter with tertiary mathematics. Results from our survey (N = 71) show that students in our sample face issues mostly related to the challenging nature of university mathematics, the absence of worked examples during lectures and the discontinuity of school and university mathematics curricula. By using third generation Activity Theory, we were able to interpret the identified difficulties as contradictions emerging between the school and university activity systems as well as within the university activity system, and we argue that these difficulties can be treated as stemming from the structural characteristics the two activity systems have.