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Linear Algebra Teaching and Learning

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Mathematics Education

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Introduction

Linear algebra has been recognized as a difficult subject for students, due mainly to the abstract nature of the concepts of this discipline (e.g., Dorier and Sierpinska 2001). The two main research themes regarding the teaching and learning of linear algebra are characterizations of student understanding of particular linear algebra concepts and different didactic approaches to improve its teaching and learning. After a brief summary of preliminary work, we describe research results related to three strands of interest.

Preliminary Work

Research on students’ learning of linear algebra started in the late 1980s. At that time, in France, several researchers called the attention of the international community to students’ difficulties in understanding concepts, even after they had taken one or two university courses on this subject. Dorier’s (2000) edited book was particularly important. His studies, based on a thorough analysis of the historical and epistemological...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departmento de Matemáticas, División Académica de Actuaría, Estadística y Matemáticas, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), México City, México

    Maria Trigueros

  2. Mathematics Department, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA

    Megan Wawro

Authors
  1. Maria Trigueros
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  2. Megan Wawro
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maria Trigueros .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. South Bank University Centre for Mathematics Education, London, UK

    Steve Lerman

Section Editor information

  1. Laboratoire de Didactique André Revuz (EA4434), Université Paris-Diderot, Paris, France

    Michèle Artigue

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Trigueros, M., Wawro, M. (2019). Linear Algebra Teaching and Learning. In: Lerman, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Mathematics Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77487-9_100021-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77487-9_100021-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-77487-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-77487-9

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