Hands on History

Hands on History
Author: Amy Shell-Gellasch
Publisher: MAA
Total Pages: 191
Release: 2007
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0883851822

In an increasingly electronic society, these exercises are designed to help school and collegiate educators use historical devices of mathematics to balance the digital side of mathematics.

A Five-Year Study of the First Edition of the Core-Plus Mathematics Curriculum

A Five-Year Study of the First Edition of the Core-Plus Mathematics Curriculum
Author: Harold Schoen
Publisher: IAP
Total Pages: 422
Release: 2010-07-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1607524155

The study reported in this volume adds to the growing body of evaluation studies that focus on the use of NSF-funded Standards-based high school mathematics curricula. Most previous evaluations have studied the impact of field-test versions of a curriculum. Since these innovative curricula were so new at the time of many of these studies, students and teachers were relative novices in their use. These earlier studies were mainly one year or less in duration. Students in the comparison groups were typically from schools in which some classes used a Standards-based curriculum and other classes used a conventional curriculum, rather than using the Standards-based curriculum with all students as curriculum developers intended. The volume reports one of the first studies of the efficacy of Standards-based mathematics curricula with all of the following characteristics: · The study focused on fairly stable implementations of a first-edition Standards-based high school mathematics curriculum that was used by all students in each of three schools. · It involved students who experienced up to seven years of Standards-based mathematics curricula and instruction in middle school and high school. · It monitored students’ mathematical achievement, beliefs, and attitudes for four years of high school and one year after graduation. · Prior to the study, many of the teachers had one or more years of experience teaching the Standards-based curriculum and/or professional development focusing on how to implement the curriculum well. · In the study, variations in levels of implementation of the curriculum are described and related to student outcomes and teacher behavior variables. Item data and all unpublished testing instruments from this study are available at www.wmich.edu/cpmp/ for use as a baseline of instruments and data for future curriculum evaluators or Core-Plus Mathematics users who may wish to compare results of new groups of students to those in the present study on common tests or surveys. Taken together, this volume, the supplement at the CPMP Web site, and the first edition Core-Plus Mathematics curriculum materials (samples of which are also available at the Web site) serve as a fairly complete description of the nature and impact of an exemplar of first edition NSF-funded Standards-based high school mathematics curricula as it existed and was implemented with all students in three schools around the turn of the 21st century.

The New Math

The New Math
Author: Christopher James Phillips
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2015
Genre: Education
ISBN: 022618496X

An era of sweeping cultural change in America, the postwar years saw the rise of beatniks and hippies, the birth of feminism, and the release of the first video game. This book examines the rise and fall of the new math as a marker of the period's political and social ferment.

Mathematical Time Capsules

Mathematical Time Capsules
Author: Dick Jardine
Publisher: MAA
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2011
Genre: Computer science
ISBN: 088385984X

Mathematical Time Capsules offers teachers historical modules for immediate use in the mathematics classroom. Readers will find articles and activities from mathematics history that enhance the learning of topics covered in the undergraduate or secondary mathematics curricula. Each capsule presents at least one topic or a historical thread that can be used throughout a course. The capsules were written by experienced practitioners to provide teachers with historical background and classroom activities designed for immediate use in the classroom, along with further references and resources on the chapter subject. --Publisher description.

Mathematical Writing

Mathematical Writing
Author: Donald E. Knuth
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 132
Release: 1989
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780883850633

This book will help those wishing to teach a course in technical writing, or who wish to write themselves.

Making the Connection

Making the Connection
Author: Marilyn Paula Carlson
Publisher: MAA
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2008
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 9780883851838

The chapters in this volume convey insights from mathematics education research that have direct implications for anyone interested in improving teaching and learning in undergraduate mathematics. This synthesis of research on learning and teaching mathematics provides relevant information for any math department or individual faculty member who is working to improve introductory proof courses, the longitudinal coherence of precalculus through differential equations, students' mathematical thinking and problem-solving abilities, and students' understanding of fundamental ideas such as variable and rate of change. Other chapters include information about programs that have been successful in supporting students' continued study of mathematics. The authors provide many examples and ideas to help the reader infuse the knowledge from mathematics education research into mathematics teaching practice. University mathematicians and community college faculty spend much of their time engaged in work to improve their teaching. Frequently, they are left to their own experiences and informal conversations with colleagues to develop new approaches to support student learning and their continuation in mathematics. Over the past 30 years, research in undergraduate mathematics education has produced knowledge about the development of mathematical understandings and models for supporting students' mathematical learning. Currently, very little of this knowledge is affecting teaching practice. We hope that this volume will open a meaningful dialogue between researchers and practitioners toward the goal of realizing improvements in undergraduate mathematics curriculum and instruction.

Functions, Data and Models

Functions, Data and Models
Author: Sheldon P. Gordon
Publisher: MAA
Total Pages: 511
Release: 2010
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 0883857677

Focuses primarily on mathematical concepts and mathematical thinking, thereby achieving a balance among geometric, numerical, symbolic, and statistical approaches, rather than focusing on algebraic manipulation. Gordon incorporates a significant amount of statistical reasoning and methods as natural applications of more standard college algebra topics. --From publisher description.

The Beauty of Fractals

The Beauty of Fractals
Author: Denny Gulick
Publisher: MAA
Total Pages: 107
Release: 2010
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 0883859718

The Beauty of Fractals includes six essays related to fractals, with perspectives different enough to give you a taste of the breadth of the subject. Each essay is self-contained and expository. Moreover, each of the essays is intended to be accessible to a broad audience that includes college teachers, high school teachers, advanced undergraduate students, and others who wish to learn or teach about topics in fractals that are not regularly in textbooks on fractals.

A Fresh Start for Collegiate Mathematics

A Fresh Start for Collegiate Mathematics
Author: Nancy Baxter Hastings
Publisher: Mathematical Association of America (MAA)
Total Pages: 412
Release: 2006
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN:

"This volume is an outcome of the NSF-funded conference, 'Rethinking the Preparation for Calculus,' which took place in Washington, DC, in October 2001"--P. vi

And the Rest is Just Algebra

And the Rest is Just Algebra
Author: Sepideh Stewart
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2016-10-20
Genre: Education
ISBN: 3319450530

This book addresses college students' weak foundation in algebra, its causes, and potential solutions to improve their long-term success and understanding in mathematics as a whole. The authors, who are experts in a wide variety of fields, emphasize that these difficulties are more complex than just forgotten rules, and offer strategic approaches from a number of angles that will increase the chances of student understanding. Instructors who are frustrated with their students’ lack of skills and knowledge at college level will find this volume helpful, as the authors confront the deeper reasons why students have difficulties with Algebra and reveal how to remedy the issue.