Students’ perceptions of the concept of function: The case of Turkish students attending vocational high school on industry

The purpose of the study was to investigate students' perceptions of the concept of functions in vocational high schools on industry. The participants were tenth grade students (n = 11) studying in the department of Computer Technology and Electrics and Electronics. A 10-item diagnostic test was designed to assess students' understanding of the concept of function. After analyzing students' written works for the test, three students were selected to be interviewed to reveal more about their ways of thinking in deciding whether a representation is a function or not. Results have revealed that the students had very weak perceptions of the function concept. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.