In the typical first-year mathematics course--whether it be calculus or a general education quantitative proficiency course--we struggle to help students see the relevance of mathematics to their own lives. Particularly in a focused course such as calculus, there is a danger that students see mathematics as an isolated subject, with applications…

The fundamental goal of any STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) course must be to involve students in the acquisition and mastery of the knowledge, skills, and perspectives of a technical discipline. This chapter describes an instructional model for infusing social and cultural learning into a technical course. This model…

The research literature regarding African American male college students reports that they often experience difficulties with mathematics (Stage & Kloosterman, 1995; Treisman, 1992). It is also reported that many African American students enter college seeking to complete their degrees in mathematics and science, but few of these students…

The transition from school to tertiary study of mathematics comes under increasing scrutiny in research. This article reports on some findings from a project analysing the transition from secondary to tertiary education in mathematics. One key variable in this transition is the teacher or lecturer. This article deals with a small part of the data…

The culture of the young may, in fact, be a harbinger enticing us to follow a pathway from which will emerge the re-conceptualized educational practices of this new century. The culture of those older will, no doubt, strive to maintain the more golden aspects of their now historical learning experiences. One of the tasks of all educators, but…

Speech technology--especially automatic speech recognition--has now advanced to a level where it can be of great benefit both to able-bodied people and those with various disabilities. In this paper we describe an application "TalkMaths" which, using the output from a commonly-used conventional automatic speech recognition system,…

This paper was prepared in response to the Conference Board of Mathematical Sciences recommendations for the preparation of secondary teachers. It shows how using trigonometry as a conceptual tool in spreadsheet-based applications enables one to develop mathematical understanding in the context of constructing geometric representations of unit…

The advancement of computer technology used for research is creating the need to change the way classes are taught in higher education. "Bringing Research Tools into the Classroom" has become a major focus of the work of the Office of Educational Innovation and Technology (OEIT) for the Dean of Undergraduate Education (DUE) at the…

External performance assessments for teachers of mathematics have traditionally been accomplished through reviews of student comments as well as through formal evaluations by superiors. Additionally, evaluating lecture-based teaching (as opposed to more active learning environments) focuses primarily on classroom performance, curriculum planning,…

The present study aims to explore the use of assessment in mathematics content courses for future elementary school teachers. Analysis of self assessment data on mathematical understanding and peer assessment data on oral mathematical presentation showed that pre-service teachers had a balanced understanding of procedural knowledge and problem…

This textbook is designed primarily to follow the third book of the author's series of textbooks of secondary mathematics. Therefore, it presupposes the essentials of high-school algebra, plane and solid geometry, and trigonometry. It aims to combine the work which is commonly covered in separate courses in college algebra and in analytical…

A criterion (formula) for the termination of a continued fraction expansion leading to the solution of a standard differential eigenvalue problem from mathematical physics is presented. The criterion generates the eigenvalues in any specific case and is illustrated by elementary examples yielding well-known polynomial eigenfunctions. This…

In this paper the power of the [gamma] algorithm for obtaining the dual of a given cone and some of its multiple applications is discussed. The meaning of each sequential tableau appearing during the process is interpreted. It is shown that each tableau contains the generators of the dual cone of a given cone and that the algorithm updates the…

The familiar property of integral of f (x) = 1/x led to the discovery of other functions with this property.

This article looks at how a particular curve associated with tangents of an exponential function is a copy of the exponential itself.