An Exploratory analysis of the representations of functions in the university entrance exam in Spain and Iran

Abstract

The University Entrance Exam (UEE) has an important impact on how math instructors teach mathematics to prepare students for this exam as well as how their students learn mathematics. Since the UEE is like a bridge between high school and university, its importance becomes twofold. However, research regarding this issue is very limited in mathematics education. The purpose of this research is to conduct an exploratory analysis of mathematics questions from the UEE in Spain and Iran from the point of view of representations of functions (i.e., algebraic, graphical, numerical and explanations with words). For this, the mathematics questions related to derivatives and integrals, which are two of the most important concepts in mathematics, from the last five years of the UEE in these two countries were considered to analyze them from the point of view of different representations. The results showed that most of the derivative and integral questions in the UEE in both countries were related to the algebraic representation. However, a very small percentage of the derivative and integral questions were related to the graphical and numerical representations and the relationships between the representations. At the end, suggestions to the curriculum planners and designers of mathematics questions of the UEEs are given.