2a.+Importance+of+VITAE


 * As Froelich, Bartkovich, and Foerster (1993) note, **”** ** the concept of function is probably the most important idea in mathematics ** **”** (p. 1).
 * Although students spend significant time working with functions, much of this time is spent transforming familiar "parent" functions rather than creating original functions.
 * The tendency to **modify and ”borrow”** rather than create impacts students’ attitudes regarding mathematics. Functions become ”gifts” from teachers (or the back of the textbook) rather than objects of discovery in their own right. Mathematics is not construed as a creative area of study.
 * The VITAE approach confronts this problem head-on, by **providing students (and their teachers) with a framework for constructing novel, unexpected functions** in the context of algebraic model building.