This article describes the outcomes of a faculty partnership between a math professor and a composition professor to improve the final paper in a research-focused senior capstone math course. Much attention has been paid in recent years to the importance of undergraduate research experiences and how to best create and support such endeavors.…

In introductory level math classes, writing prompts can be used as part of weekly homework assignments to encourage students to think more deeply about the subject at hand. These writing prompts present scenarios related to recently learned material in a new context and require students to submit a short written response online. Writing prompts…

This article describes a major capstone course centered on public writing, whose underlying pedagogical principles are transferable to courses across the curriculum. The course aims to strengthen students' mathematical agency and their ability to effectively communicate mathematical ideas. In its unique format, students repeatedly take turns…

As part of a larger research study, this paper describes calculus students' reasoning about the Intermediate Value Theorem (IVT) in verbal, written, and graphical form. During interviews, students were asked to verbally describe the IVT in their own words. They then provided written descriptions, watched video of their verbal descriptions,…

This article will describe a writing assignment designed for use in a liberal arts college whose mission stresses effective written communication both within and across disciplines. In this assignment, students write three separate solutions to the same mathematics problem: one for a mathematical peer, a second for a contemporary that does not…

The purpose of this article is to provide a deeper understanding of the natural rhythm of a typical semester, as observed in students' reflections in journals kept during the semester. Our analysis of students' writings rendered a breakdown of the semester into four distinct periods that were independent of the particular semester or section the…

Instructors are constantly struggling to help students understand mathematical concepts as well as the relevance of mathematics to the real world. In calculus, students possess misconceptions of the limit concept. "Pushing the Limit" refers to a semester-long calculus class project that required students to read about, interview calculus…

We present a design for a junior level numerical methods course that focuses on a series of five open-ended projects in applied mathematics. These projects were deliberately designed to present many of the ambiguities and complexities that appear any time we use mathematics in the real world, and so they offered the students a variety of possible…

In teaching a course without a textbook, we introduce a project in which students develop their own text. Details of the project, student reactions, benefits to students, and more are discussed. (Contains 2 footnotes.)

Described are student/consultant reports, turned in as homework, that reflected their abilities to distinguish useful from irrelevant information, solve the underlying calculus extremum problem, and reconcile the individual mathematical solutions with the ethical considerations surrounding the moral dilemma of the hypothetical consulting client.…

This paper describes two classroom activities and a project that supplement a Liberal Arts Mathematics course's coverage of logic and reasoning. The first classroom activity introduces the writing of inductive and deductive arguments, and the second activity involves analyzing a guest speaker's arguments. The project consists of using logic and…

Presented is a guide for undergraduate mathematical composition with emphases on explicit and clear definitions, purposeful formatting with regard to technical conventions, and proper style with respect to content and prospective audience. Numerous examples are included, particularly those involving complicated mathematical expressions. (JJK)

Presented are the results of an extra-credit assignment to a group of intermediate-algebra students, which entailed the writing of word problems in poetic form. Included is the history of such writing from the trivial pursuitlike games of the Middle Ages in India. (JJK)