Multidimensional item difficulty (MID) is proposed as a means of describing test items which measure more than one ability. With mathematical story problems, for instance, both mathematical and verbal skills are required to obtain a correct answer. The proposed measure of MID is based upon three general assumptions: (1) the probability of…

The paper discusses the affective influences on students of problem solving instruction using computers, and the relationship of affective influences to student belief systems. It reviews affective issues and problem solving, and analyzes affect with particular reference to the work of G. Mandler. The paper considers types of congnitive processes,…

Repertory grid technique and extensive interviews were used to investigate the personal constructs of mathematics and mathematics teaching held by four preservice secondary mathematics teachers. Kelly's Personal Construct Theory and Perry's developmental scheme provided frameworks for analysis of the experiential, pedagogical, and mathematical…

Teacher preparation curriculum at Technion--Israel Institute of Technology (Israel) includes courses intended to bridge the gap between the pure mathematics courses and those in psychology. The focus of this paper is an experimental program for one of these courses and data collected while implementing it. This is a second report on a naturalistic…

The aim of the Math/Science Workshop Program was to improve the performance of the University of California (UC) Berkeley minority students in freshman- and sophomore-level mathematics and science courses, and thereby increase the number of such students who continue on to complete bachelor's degrees in "mathematics-based" fields. It is…

The increasing availability of the computer in the classroom has created a need for informed and creative instructional software. Two areas of cognitive research in mathematics and science learning have implications to instruction and, consequently, to educational software design. These are research on misconceptions and on differences between…

The focus is on the formulation and solution of mathematical models with the idea of a population employed mainly as a pedogogical tool. If the biological setting is stripped away, the material can be interpreted as topics or the qualitative behavior of differential and difference equations. The first group of models investigate the dynamics of a…

The first four units cover aspects of medical applications of calculus: 71-Measuring Cardiac Output; 72-Prescribing Safe and Effective Dosage; 73-Epidemics; and 74-Tracer Methods in Permiability. All units include a set of exercises and answers to at least some of the problems. Unit 72 also contains a model exam and answers to this exam. The fifth…

This book, second in a series dealing with scientific programing in the BASIC language, provides students, engineers, and scientists with a documented library of subroutines for scientific applications. Subjects of the eight chapters include: (1) least-squares approximation of functions and smoothing of data; (2) approximating functions by series…

This manual was developed to provide guidance to individuals working in Project SOAR (Stress on Analytical Reasoning), a pre-freshman summer program for science majors anticipating matriculation at Xavier University of Louisiana. Following an overview of Xavier University and Project SOAR and an outline of general instructions, specific…

This booklet provides an overview of the Elements of Mathematics Program used in Project MEGSSS (Mathematics Education for Gifted Secondary School Students). It was designed for gifted students in grades 7-12 with excellent reading and reasoning ability. It attempts to explore the upper content limits of the mathematics that such students can…

An analysis of the characteristics and grades of students in Mathematics 71, a basic mathematics course, was conducted at Kings River Community College to provide counselors and instructors with information to help them determine the chances of a student's success in the course. Data collected included information on placement test scores; high…

A study was conducted to determine the level of cooperation between mathematics and occupational-technical faculty in the development and delivery of occupational-technical mathematics courses at 100 randomly selected two-year colleges. Level of cooperation was measured by obtaining the perceptions of selected administrators and faculty toward the…

Many of the suggestions that calculus instructors have published as articles from 1908 through 1973 are included in this book of readings. The main criterion for selecting an item was whether it would be helpful to teachers and students; therefore, those which dealt exclusively with curricular structure were not included. The selected articles are…

This document is intended to facilitate the use of mathematics films and videotapes. All materials listed are readily available from film and videotape companies or from film rental libraries. All descriptions provided are excerpts from distributor's brochures. The materials are generally suitable for college students, and are categorized into the…