Epistemological obstacles in coming to understand the limit concept at undergraduate level: A case of the National University of Lesotho

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the epistemological obstacles that mathematics students at undergraduate level encounter in coming to understand the limit concept. The role played by language and symbolism in understanding the limit concept was also investigated. A group of mathematics students at undergraduate level at the National University of Lesotho (NUL) was used as the sample for the study. Empirical data were collected by using interviews and questionnaires. These data were analysed using both the APOS framework and a semiotic perspective. Within the APOS framework, the pieces of knowledge that have to be constructed in coming to understand the limit concept are actions, processes and objects. Actions are interiorised into processes and processes are encapsulated into objects. The conceptual structure is called a schema. In investigating the idea of limit within the context of a function some main epistemological obstacles that were encountered when actions were interiorised into processes are over-generalising and taking the limit value as the function value. For example, in finding the limit value L for./{x) as x tends to 0, 46 subjects out of 251 subjects said that they would calculate ./{O) as the limit value. This method is Within the context of a sequence everyday language acted as an epistemological obstacle in interiorising actions into processes. For example, in finding lim (_1)n ,the majority of x~oo n the subjects obtained the correct answer O. It was however revealed that such an answer was obtained by using an inappropriate method. The subjects substituted one big value for n in the formula. The result obtained was the number close to O. Then 0 was taken as the limit value because the subjects interpreted the word 'approaches' as meaning 'nearer to'. Other subjects rounded off the result. In everyday life when one object approaches another, we might say that they are nearer to each other. It seems that in this case the appropriate for calculating the limit values for continuous functions. However, in this case, the method is generalised to all the functions. When these subjects encounter situations in which the functional value is equal to the limit value, they take the two to be the same.