Difficulties of comprehension and epistemic conflicts when making transformations in the representations of a function

Dificultades de comprensión y conflictos epistémicos al hacer transformaciones en las representaciones de una función

This research was aimed to analyze epistemic conflicts that students have from eleventh grade to perform transformations with elements of a function. The sample comprised 85 eleventh grade students, aged between 16 and 18 years, from the Educational Institution San Vicente de Paul in the department of Sucre. The research was conducted in four stages: document review, design, validation and application of instruments and analysis and interpretation of results. The results show serious difficulties related with: The recognition of the elements of a function and how these relate and the establishment of congruences between the elements of two or more representations. The main epistemic conflicts that have been found are related to the recognition of the role in academic contexts, do not recognize the graphical representations neither tabular as representations of a function and therefore few use them as support to give their answers, the indistinct  use of the letter as magnitude and as widespread Variable, the construction of appropriate graphics, but unconventional, where was taken reversely, the X axis orientation and the recognition alone of  the arithmetic analytical representation and the algebraic, as representations of a function.