Incorporating multiple representations enhanced through technology is a theme in reformed mathematics curricula. While the need for students to use and reason on multiple representations is widely accepted, the research‐based knowledge on how to best accomplish this goal is just beginning to emerge. Current cognitive theories indicate that students’ knowledge of and preference for various representations is crucial to the decision process. This project develops and validates an instrument for determining student preferences for multiple representations of functions and establishes base‐line data for future research. The results indicate that students do have preferences for representations of functions and that these preferences vary between contextualized and non‐contextualized settings. Furthermore, students’ preferences between these two settings are more similar for students in a graphics calculator‐based calculus course than for students in a traditional calculus course. If a student has a cognitive preference for a representation, it is likely that the strongest connections between representations and between concept and representation are constructed to and from the student's preferred representation. Thus, attempts to situate the development of mathematics in context and attempts to enable students to approach mathematics as a sense‐making activity may do well to build from students’ preferences for representations.