Articulators for Thinking Modes of the Derivative from a Local Perspective

The purpose of this paper is to show and validate a design for a deep understanding of the derivative from its local perspective. Based on a historical and epistemological study of the derivative, we performed an extension of the Sierpinska theoretical framework – Thinking Modes– of the domain of the derivative from its local perspective, and therefore identified three ways of thinking about the derivative, described as the Synthetic-Geometric-Convergent (SGC), Analytic- Operational (AO) and Analytic-Structural (AE, for its name in Spanish), as the components that, along with its articulators comprise a design for deep understanding of its local aspect. Methodologically, hypothetically proposed articulators are compared to data obtained in case studies with two groups of university students, in addition to a semi-structured interview to mathematicians, researchers and scholars, through which the proposed articulators elements were validated and clarified. The result is a design for the understanding of the derivative from its local aspect as a viable tool to cause the rupture from a purely algebraic thinking about this topic, and that benefits its deep understanding, being this, the ability of a student to articulate these thinking modes.