In this classroom note, we outline a system of assessment used by the authors since 2020 to deliver individualized summative assessments to students from first- and second-year mathematics courses. Our system comprises three modular components allowing a mix-and-match of different technological approaches and mathematical question types. First is…

Statistics educators have long recognized the importance of empowering students with statistical thinking skills that could be applied beyond the classroom. However, there is a dearth of research on how students deem statistical topics as having practical future relevance after they complete introductory courses. Focusing on student interest in…

This article outlines how a Brisbane independent school, Clayfield College, improved the ability of its Year 3 students to solve addition and subtraction word problems by utilising a schematic approach. It was observed that while students could read the words in the text of a written problem, many had difficulty identifying the core information…

In this article, the authors present an approach to developing open-ended problems through capturing contextualised mathematics in photographs. They draw upon their research with the Problem Posing Research Project, a collaborative venture between an Australian and a Canadian university to broaden pre-service teachers pedagogical practices in the…

In Volume 26, Number 2, we reported on a group case study run for level 3 mathematics students at the University of Brighton. At the core of the study was a quadratic assignment problem, and we reported on attempts by students to use Excel to solve the problem, and on the attendant difficulties. We provided an elegant solution. In this article, we…

The interaction of the history of mathematics and mathematics education has long been construed as an esoteric area of inquiry. Much of the research done in this realm has been under the auspices of the history and pedagogy of mathematics group. However there is little systematization or consolidation of the existing literature aimed at…

As teachers of first-year college mathematics and science students, the authors are constantly on the lookout for simple classroom exercises that improve their students' analytical and computational skills. In this article, the authors outline a project entitled "Predicting Precipitation in Darwin." In this project, students: (1) analyze…

This paper reports on students' errors in performing integration of rational functions, a topic of calculus in the pre-university mathematics classrooms. Generally the errors could be classified as those due to the students' weak algebraic concepts and their lack of understanding of the concept of integration. With the students' inability to link…

Humor has been promoted as a teaching tool that enhances student engagement and learning. The present report traces the pathway from research to practice by reflecting upon various ways to incorporate humor into the face-to-face teaching of statistics. The use of humor in an introductory university statistics course was evaluated via interviews…

As well as being important for school mathematics, spatial thinking is a big component of advanced mathematical studies too. As Jones (2001:55) points out, "Much of the thinking that is required in higher mathematics is spatial in nature. Einstein's comments on thinking in images are well known. Numerous mathematicians report using spatial…

This document consists of seven chapters. The first chapter analyzes the modeling process and gives reasons for introducing a modeling approach in classrooms, arguing that students will develop more confident and positive attitudes toward mathematics. The next five chapters contain case studies, which focus, respectively on: whether it is more…

Examines aspects of the images and definitions that college students and junior high school teachers have for the concept of function. Provides a seven-item questionnaire. Describes and categorizes the various images and definitions of the concept. (YP)

As school curricula undergo changes in both content and pedagogy, pressure is placed on teacher preparation programs and undergraduate mathematics departments to model learning environments in mathematics appropriate for education students. Yet the reality of many post-secondary mathematics courses includes traditional style classes containing a…

Described are the variations found between the western and African versions of the same logic puzzle. It is demonstrated that mathematical ideas are of concern in traditional non-Western cultures as well as in the West. (KR)

This volume contains the papers and comments from the Workshop on Mathematics Education, a special session of the 15th Conference on Stochastic Processes and Their Applications, held in Nagoya, Japan, July 2-5, 1985. Topics covered include: (1) probability; (2) statistics; (3) deviation; (4) Japanese mathematics curriculum; (5) statistical…