In any academic learning situation there is a body symbols and symbolic systems. These systems are pretty complex and seem to consist of at least three major parts, statements, relationships, and discourse. The actions and words of a participant in teaching situations may be interpretable. If these behaviors are interpretable then we can hope to make conjectures about the structure and design of conceptual frameworks which are developing in the student around the subject. In this way we can link the consideration of cognitive function with the complexities of the behaviors we observe everyday in the classroom.
Students have problems determining which knowledge is appropriate in which situation.
Thus given a problem or situation which does not contain certain specific prompts the students are not able to determine which knowledge to apply in order to solve the problem at hand. Misunderstanding arises from habits of participation around the content of the course. The fact that students are encouraged to learn from one another, and use each other as resources may lead to a neglect of the internalization of important relationships. However the above statement must be put in the context of the classroom in which I am teaching. The students have become used to the routine and have work with consistent effort to solve the various mathematical puzzles and tasks.