Mathematics teachers’ conceptions about infinity: A preliminary study at the secondary and high school level

Abstract

The literature indicates that students consistently exhibit limited conceptions of infinity in various contexts. Furthermore, it is more resistant in geometric than arithmetic contexts. On the other hand, there is a smaller amount of literature that explores teachers' conceptions and how these conceptions may be similar to those of their students. Therefore, this work presents the results obtained from applying a five-item instrument with secondary and high school mathematics teachers who are in public or private service in the state of Puebla, Mexico. This study had a dual purpose: to show that teachers also possess limited conceptions of infinity, as students do, thereby expanding the existing literature on this topic; and secondly, to emphasize that the results shown here will enable subsequent work to design an intervention for a profound conceptual change regarding infinity among teachers.