A Trio of Courses to Support Mathematics Transfer Students’ Development of Professional Vision

Abstract

This study explored the development of professional vision as related to transfer students becoming upper division, four-year mathematics students. We drew from qualitative focus groups with 21 participants at a four-year research university, who were enrolled in a trio of concurrent transitional mathematics courses. We examined the development of professional vision in three areas: engaging in proof and problem solving, being a member of a university mathematics community, and finding a future in mathematics. We found that students developed professional vision related to proof and problem solving, including experiences that were more abstract, more proof-based, and more problem solving-based. Development of community as part of the students' professional vision was embedded throughout the cohort model, a noteworthy aspect of the trio of courses. Finally, students' professional vision around finding a future in mathematics developed around future careers in mathematics, as well as students' access to and knowledge of future career opportunities. Ultimately, diminished timelines exacerbated many of students' struggles, as related to professional vision or otherwise.

Farewell to Virtual Environments and Welcome to Post-pandemic Mathematical Problem Posing and Solving

“…The development of mathematics in children has main sources within the professional vision (participation in solving and proving, belonging to a university network and looking at a mathematical future) [45] that requires creativity and spatial skills to improve performance in mathematics and other areas of science, which are channeled through additional tasks with themes of mental rotation, mental cutting and creativity [46].…”