Students' level of understanding of the basic concept of functions and relations: A conceptual analysis

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to ascertain the veracity of the students’ level of understanding on its six facets of the basic concept of functions and relations before and after applying understanding by design as a pedagogical strategy of the study. The study uses the pretest posttest control group design to an intact class of nursing students enrolled in College Algebra at Capitol University during the first semester of the school year 2010-2011. Thirty open-ended teacher made test was administered to the class. Teacher made test was based on the six facets of understanding developed by Wiggins and McTighe, (2006), namely: explanation, interpretation, application, perspective, empathy, and self-knowledge. Data analysis revealed that most of the respondents improve their level of understanding. Understanding by design is thus one of an effective pedagogical strategy of proposing an approach to curriculum and instruction designed to engage students making connections and binding together the knowledge into something that makes sense of things.