Reflected acting in mathematical learning processes

Acting and thinking are strongly interconnected activities. This paper proposes an approach to mathematical concepts from the angle of hands-on acting. In the process of learning, special emphasis is put on the reflection of the own actions, enabling learners to act consciously. An illustration is presented in the area number representation and extensions of number fields. Using didactical materials, processes of mathematical acting are stimulated and reflected. Mathematical concepts are jointly developed with the learners, trying to address shortcomings from own experiences. This is accompanied by reflection processes that make conscious to learners the rationale of mathematical approaches and the creation of mathematical concepts. Teaching mathematics following this approach does intent to contribute to the development of decision-making and responsibility capabilities of learners.     

What we can learn from analyzing the teacher’s role in collective argumentation

In this paper, I use analyses of collective argumentation in a variety of classroom settings, from elementary school to a university-level differential equations class to illustrate various roles the teacher plays. These include initiating the negotiation of classroom norms that foster argumentation as the core of students’ mathematical activity, providing support for students as they interact with each other to develop arguments, and supplying argumentative supports (data, warrants, and backing) that are either omitted or left implicit. We gain two important insights from these analyses. First, an emphasis on argumentation can be used productively to provide openings in mathematical discussions for new mathematical concepts and tools to emerge. Second, the analyses demonstrate that teachers need to have both an in-depth understanding of students’ mathematical conceptual development and a sophisticated understanding of the mathematical concepts that underlie the instructional activities being used.     

Parties and networks: Stochastic models for relationship networks

This paper argues that parties and other gatherings are important for the development of friendship networks. It proposes a stochastic model for the evolution of networks over time, the distinctive feature of which is the party event. A party event occurs when a person in the network has a gathering and invites all of his/her friends who then also become friends. The Party Models discussed are all based upon this simple assumption. After formulating basic assumptions, various differential equations describing Party Models are derived. Subsequently several concepts useful for model analysis are defined and briefly explored. These include the concepts of potential, equivalence class form, and degenerate models. The penultimate section considers models for three person networks in some detail and with numerical illustrations. All extended mathematical arguments are placed in the Mathematical Appendix.     

Isetl: A programming language for learning mathematics

This paper gives a brief history of the development of an approach to help students learn mathematical concepts at the post-secondary level. The method uses ISETL, a programming language derived from SETL, to implement instruction whose design is based on an emerging theory of learning. Examples are given of uses of this pedagogical strategy in abstract algebra, calculus, and mathematical induction. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Measurement model for division as a tool in computing applications

The paper describes the use of a spreadsheet in a mathematics teacher education course. It shows how the tool can serve as a link between seemingly disconnected mathematical concepts. The didactical triad of using a spreadsheet as an agent, consumer, and amplifier of mathematical activities allows for an extended investigation of simple yet intriguing properties of whole numbers. The authors argue that revisiting elementary content in a technological context enables pre-service teachers to appreciate the role that conceptual knowledge can play in the development of a spreadsheet-enabled pedagogy.     

Necessary Optimality Conditions for Mathematical Programs with Second-Order Cone Complementarity Constraints

This paper considers the mathematical program with second-order cone complementarity constrains (MPSOCC). As a generalization of the developed mathematical program with complementarity constrains (MPCC), MPSOCC has many applications in practice. Motivated by the MPCC theory, several stationarity concepts, which include the Clarke-type, Mordukhovich-type, and strong stationarities, are presented in this paper. It is further shown that a local minimizer of MPSOCC must be stationary in some sense under suitable conditions. This indicates that these stationarity concepts are reasonable in theory.     

模糊概念的EI代数分解

应用 AFS结构 [6] 上的 EI代数[6] 分析模糊概念的数学结构 ,证明有限集上任意一个模糊概念都是一类极其简单的模糊概念的 EI代数分解。     

The interactive constitution of mathematical meaning in one second grade classroom: an illustrative example

The manner in which a horizontal addition and subtraction number sentence activity was constituted in one second grade classroom is analyzed for the purpose of discussing and illustrating how mathematical meaning is interactively constituted in the classroom. In particular, the teacher's emphasis on different solutions contributed to students' development of increasingly sophisticated concepts of ten. In turn, students' solutions contributed to the teacher's development of an increasingly sophisticated understanding of the children's mathematical activity and their concepts of ten.     

Understanding secondary mathematics: analysis of linguistic difficulties vis‐a‐vis errors

Misconceptions caused by misunderstanding mathematical language are of different types, e.g. interference of mathematical and non‐mathematical meanings, complexity or unfamiliarity of words, improper use of symbols, syntactical misunderstandings and redundancy or inadequacy of data. Fifteen mathematical words were presented to 84 students of 8th grade and the responses of students were analysed. Mathematical items of a Science Talent Search Test were also analysed from the answers of 100 candidates of 8th grade. The analysis casts light on the processes of the development of mathematical concepts which the students learn through the vicissitudes of the interaction of mathematical and non‐mathematical meanings of words which may be familiar or unfamiliar, relevant or irrelevant, and/or distinct or difficult, to the learners. Complications in understanding mathematical concepts for individual students are pointed out from these experiments. Acquaintance with such communication processes of learners can also help in detecting strategies of imparting mathematical instructions to the learners. Roles of the uses of common, mathematical, transformational, and story‐telling language have also been discussed. The paper concludes with some comments on the importance of guided discovery learning, error analysis by teachers, and the preparation of a register of mathematical language.     

Behavior settings and eco-behavioral science: a new arena for mathematical social science permitting a richer and more coherent view of human activities in social systems,part II: Relationships to established disciplines,and needs for mathematical development

Part I of this paper presented the basic concepts of behavior settings and eco-behavioral science originated by the psychologist Roger Barker, showed how they could be linked with standard economic data systems, and suggested their use as a basis for time-allocation matrices and social system accounts. Part II discusses the relationships of behavior settings and eco-behavioral science to established disciplines, describes applications of mathematics to the new concepts by Fox and associates, and points out some major areas in need of mathematical and theoretical development. These areas include representation and measurement of patterns of relationships among roles within behavior settings, relationships among behavior settings within communities and organizations, and the evolution of large, heterogeneous populations of behavior settings over time. We hope some readers will be motivated to participate in this new scientific enterprise.     

Gesture in collaborative mathematics problem-solving

In this paper we examine the significance of gestures in a setting where two students try to make sense of, and solve, mathematical problems involving speed and time. We are particularly interested in exploring the claims that gesture serves various signaling functions in collaborative problem-solving communication generally and in mathematics problem-solving more specifically, and that gesture has a diagnostic role for the collaborators and for teachers. The overall purpose of our paper is to illustrate the integral role of gesture in dyadic communication where core problem domain concepts may be difficult to explicate.     

线性代数教材改革指导思想探析

论述线性代数教材改革的必要性及其指导思想,主张线性代数教材建设应以矩阵为主线,以教育部颁发的硕士研究生人学考试线性代数部分的大纲为纲,结合教学现代化的现状,强调几何与代数相结合,重视代数学思想方法的渗透,化抽象为具体,同时在教学中还要引入数学建模的思想．     

Mathematical Theory of Fluids in Motion

The goal of this paper is to present the recent development of mathematical fluid dynamics in the framework of classical continuum mechanics phenomenological models. In particular, we discuss the Navier–Stokes (viscous) and the Euler (inviscid) systems modeling the motion of a compressible fluid. The theory is developed from fundamental physical principles, the necessary mathematical tools introduced at the moment when needed. In particular, we discuss various concepts of solutions and their relevance in applications. Particular interest is devoted to well-posedness of the initial-value problems and their approximations including possibly certain numerical schemes.     

The role of software Modellus in a teaching approach based on model analysis

We discuss some results of a study carried out over the past 4 years to investigate the role of Modellus, a software package, in the development of an approach to teaching calculus for Biology majors. The central idea of the teaching approach is to propose the analysis of a mathematical model for a biological phenomenon at the very beginning of the course, in a way that this analysis is interrelated with some of the mathematical concepts listed in the syllabus. In this paper, we focus on the role of the software during the development of one of the activities proposed to the students, the purpose of which was to discuss the relation between secant lines and the instantaneous rate of change. It was found that this software played two roles in the development of this activity: providing information about the phenomenon and the model; and acting as a trigger, making evident to the student an important aspect that contributed to his understanding. Based on our theoretical perspective of digital technology, we believe that students’ interaction with the software played a fundamental role in the thinking collective composed of humans and media involved in mathematical learning.     

An examination for mathematical modelling

First year mathematics degree students at Leicester Polytechnic attend a course in mathematical modelling. The aim is to introduce the students to mathematical modelling concepts and to model development. Work is set and marked during the course and this forms a vital part of the students' assessment. In addition to this, however, the students are assessed by means of a three hour examination at the end of the year. This examination is significantly different from the normal ‘five out of eight’ type. The philosophy and organization of the examination are discussed in this paper. An example of a particular examination, that for June 1986, is included as an appendix to illustrate the points made in the discussion.     

Introducing Differential Calculus

In this paper we discuss three ways of introducing calculus all based on concepts which students would either already know or which can be introduced without much difficulty at this stage of their mathematical training. The aim of this paper is to persuade teachers of mathematics that topics in ‘higher mathematics’, specifically calculus, can and should be presented to students in terms of concepts with which they are familiar.     

Cultivating Computational Thinking Practices and Mathematical Habits of Mind in Lattice Land

There is a great deal of overlap between the set of practices collected under the term “computational thinking” and the mathematical habits of mind that are the focus of much mathematics instruction. Despite this overlap, the links between these two desirable educational outcomes are rarely made explicit, either in classrooms or in the literature. This paper presents Lattice Land, a computational learning environment and accompanying curriculum designed to support the development of mathematical habits of mind and promote computational thinking practices in high-school mathematics classrooms. Lattice Land is a mathematical microworld where learners explore geometrical concepts by manipulating polygons drawn with discrete points on a plane. Using data from an implementation in a low-income, urban public high school, we show how the design of Lattice Land provides an opportunity for learners to use computational thinking practices and develop mathematical habits of mind, including tinkering, experimentation, pattern recognition, and formalizing hypothesis in conventional mathematical notation. We present Lattice Land as a restructuration of geometry, showing how this new and novel representational approach facilitates learners in developing computational thinking and mathematical habits of mind. The paper concludes with a discussion of the interplay between computational thinking and mathematical habits of mind, and how the thoughtful design of computational learning environments can support meaningful learning at the intersection of these disciplines.     

The Mathematical Theory of Multifocal Lenses(Dedicated to Professor Haim Brezis on the occasion of his 70th birthday)

This paper presents the fundamental optical concepts of designing multifocal ophthalmic lenses and the mathematical methods associated with them. In particular, it is shown that the design methodology is heavily based on differential geometric ideas such as Willmore surfaces. A key role is played by Hamilton's eikonal functions. It is shown that these functions capture all the information on the local blur and distortion created by the lenses. Along the way, formulas for computing the eikonal functions are derived. Finally,the author lists a few intriguing mathematical problems and novel concepts in optics as future projects.     

The Mathematical Theory of Multifocal Lenses

This paper presents the fundamental optical concepts of designing multifocal ophthalmic lenses and the mathematical methods associated with them.In particular,it is shown that the design methodology is heavily based on differential geometric ideas such as Willmore surfaces.A key role is played by Hamilton's eikonal functions.It is shown that these functions capture all the information on the local blur and distortion created by the lenses.Along the way,formulas for computing the eikonal functions are derived.Finally,the author lists a few intriguing mathematical problems and novel concepts in optics as future projects.