The Students' Take on the Epsilon-Delta Definition of a Limit

This paper describes a sequence of lessons from two Calculus I classes for teaching the epsilon-delta definition of a limit. In these lessons, the author elicited students' misconceptions and perceptions of this definition through a reading/writing lesson and then used these student ideas to design a lesson aimed at addressing these misconceptions and perceptions. An evaluation of students' understandings based on these lessons is included. Implications for teaching the epsilon-delta definition are discussed throughout the paper.