The ability of students to comprehend the function-derivative relationship with regard to problems from their real life

Abstract

This study investigated whether students who are studying calculus were able to determine the graph of the derivative of the functions related to the problems they come across in their daily lives or in applied science. A test was given to science and engineering students at a Turkish university. At the end of this study, it was determined that when the function related to the event was linear, the students were successful, however, when the events and as such, the functions became complicated, they were not able to perform correctly. Tests could be useful to assess other teaching methods