Probing the impact of graph-based salient distracting features on student reasoning

Previous research on students' mathematical reasoning from introductory mechanics to upper-division thermodynamics courses revealed that student reasoning and performance on graph-based integration tasks were impacted by specific features of those graphs. We are using dual-process theories of reasoning (DPToR) to probe the extent to which the nature of human reasoning itself may account for inconsistent reasoning on graph-based integration tasks containing salient distracting features (SDFs). In the current study, we have been examining student reasoning on graph-based integration tasks in the calculus-based introductory physics sequence by administering questions in which the salience of the SDFs is varied. Screening-target question pairs and reasoning chain construction tasks have also been used in the investigation. We will discuss recent results emerging from our ongoing work.