The unit circle approach to the construction of the sine and cosine functions and their inverses: An application of APOS theory

We use Action-Process-Object-Schema (APOS) Theory to analyze the mental constructions made by students in developing a unit circle approach to the sine, cosine, and their corresponding inverse trigonometric functions. Student understanding of the inverse trigonometric functions has not received much attention in the mathematics education research literature. We conjectured a small number of mental constructions, (genetic decomposition) which seem to play a key role in student understanding of these functions. To test and refine the conjecture we held semi-structured interviews with eleven students who had just completed a traditional college trigonometry course. A detailed analysis of the interviews shows that the conjecture is useful in describing student behavior in problem solving situations. Results suggest that students having a process conception of the conjectured mental constructions can perform better in problem solving activities. We report on some observed student mental constructions which were unexpected and can help improve our genetic decomposition.     

Codification schemes and finite automata

This paper is a note on how Information Theory and Codification Theory are helpful in the computational design of both communication protocols and strategy sets in the framework of finitely repeated games played by bounded rational agents. More precisely, we show the usefulness of both theories to improve the existing automata bounds on the work of Neyman (1998) Finitely repeated games with finite automata, Mathematics of Operations Research, 23 (3), 513–552.     

概率统计的多元化教学探讨

概率统计是一门具有独特思想方法的数学学科,我们在传统的理论教学基础上,以概率思想教育为主线,加强实践环节的教学和实际操作,注重提升学生在数学文化层面上的认识.从教学情况来看,收到了较好的教学效果.     

Standards for professionalization of mathematics teachers: policy, curricula, and national teacher employment test in Korea

International comparative studies such as the Trend in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) indicate that Korean students have consistently performed well. In addition, a recent study titled Mathematics Teaching in the 21st Century (MT21) compared prospective teachers’ knowledge and beliefs about teaching and learning in six participant countries, reporting that Korean prospective secondary mathematics teachers were better prepared than those in other countries. In this context, this study has examined the curricula for mathematics teacher education and teacher employment tests in order to investigate the social expectation for teacher professionalization in Korea, particularly focusing on teacher knowledge. The analysis shows that while elementary mathematics teacher education emphasizes pedagogical knowledge, the secondary mathematics education curricula are highly content knowledge oriented. However, the secondary mathematics teacher education includes various aspects of pedagogical content knowledge in its curricula and teacher employment test. This research also identifies the discourse concerning mathematics instruction for diversity and equity and the emphasis of reflective practice as the significant development of the current Korean teacher education.     

Ben's consolidation of knowledge structures about infinite sets

According to a recently proposed model for processes of abstraction in context, the construction of a new structure is to be followed by a consolidation phase. In this paper, we develop an empirically based, theoretical analysis of consolidation that emerges from a sequence of interviews about the comparison of infinite sets with a talented student. We take for granted that construction has occurred in the first interview and analyze the second one. Our analysis shows that consolidation can be identified by means of the psychological and cognitive characteristics of self-evidence, confidence, immediacy, flexibility and awareness. We also found three modes of thinking conducive to consolidation, one related to problem solving, one to reflective activity and an intermediate one.     

Representing context in video records of practice for urban mathematics teacher education

Mathematics education research has not sufficiently theorized about mathematics teacher knowledge and practice, teacher learning, and teacher education in ways that are reflective of the specificities of the sociopolitical contexts of schooling. In the USA, this is particularly important for urban mathematics education. This paper examines the affordances and challenges of representing context in video records of practice, particularly in the urban context, for use in the preparation of mathematics teachers for urban settings. The discussion, grounded in current research and theory relevant to representations of teaching, urban education, and mathematics teacher education, takes up three key issues: how is a focus on the urban context relevant to the design of video records of practice for mathematics teacher education? How can video records support prospective teachers’ understandings of the sociopolitical contexts of mathematics teaching? How does a focus on the urban context impact the meaning teachers make of video records?     

高等数学课堂教学与一题多解

高等数学是理工科院校一门十分重要的公共基础课程,在自然科学、工程技术、生命科学、社会科学、经济管理等众多领域有着广泛的应用．对待作为高等数学课堂上的主体——学生,教师应当积极正面评价学生,激发学生的学习兴趣,启发学生主动思考,全面培养学生解决数学问题的能力,并在课堂教学中贯彻这一思想．课堂教学也表明：学生积极主动的应用多种思路解决一道题远比老师灌输性的介绍一道题的多种解法要更具有积极意义．     

哲学视域下的高等数学“课程思政”

数学作为一门学校教育中历时较长的课程,在培养逻辑思维、规则意识、意志品格等科学素质方面发挥着积极的作用,是其他课程所无法比拟的.多年来,我国的数学教学常常忽视教学体系中蕴藏的丰富的哲学思想,哲学元素没有获得足够的挖掘和应有的重视.在“课程思政”理念的引领下,注重哲学视域下的高等数学“课程思政”教学,对于大学的数学教育工作者为国家培养优秀人才,意义深远.     

Requirements in mathematics textbooks: a five-dimensional analysis of textbook exercises and examples

Mathematics textbooks play a very important role in mathematics education and textbook tasks are used by students for practice to a large extent. Since the nature of the tasks may influence the way students think it is important that the textbooks provide a balance of a variety of tasks. The analyses of the requirements in textbook tasks contain the usual dimensions of content, cognitive demands, question type and contextual features. The aim of this study is to embed a new fifth dimension into the framework: mathematical activities. This addresses the question of what a student should do in a particular textbook task: to represent, to compute, to interpret or to use argumentation. The analysis encompassed more than 22,000 tasks from the most commonly used Croatian mathematics textbooks in the 6th, 7th and 8th grade. The results show that the textbooks do not provide a full range of task types. There is an emphasis on computation, while argumentation and interpretation activities, reflective thinking and open answer tasks are underrepresented. The study revealed that incorporating mathematical activities into the multidimensional framework of textbook tasks may help to better understand the opportunities to learn which are afforded students by using mathematics textbooks.     

The onto-semiotic approach to research in mathematics education

In this paper we synthesize the theoretical model about mathematical cognition and instruction that we have been developing in the past years, which provides conceptual and methodological tools to pose and deal with research problems in mathematics education. Following Steiner’s Theory of Mathematics Education Programme, this theoretical framework is based on elements taken from diverse disciplines such as anthropology, semiotics and ecology. We also assume complementary elements from different theoretical models used in mathematics education to develop a unified approach to didactic phenomena that takes into account their epistemological, cognitive, socio cultural and instructional dimensions.     

Cognitive trajectory of proof by contradiction for transition-to-proof students

History and research on proof by contradiction suggests proof by contradiction is difficult for students in a number of ways. Students’ comprehension of already-written proofs by contradiction is one such aspect that has received relatively little attention. Applying the cognitive lens of Action-Process-Object-Schema (APOS) Theory to proof by contradiction, we constructed and tested a cognitive model that describes how a student might construct the concept ‘proof by contradiction’ in an introduction to proof course. Data for this study was collected from students in a series of five teaching interventions focused on proof by contradiction. This paper will report on two participants as case studies to illustrate that our cognitive trajectory for proof by contradiction is a useful model for describing how students may come to understand the proof method.     

Integrating learning theories and application-based modules in teaching linear algebra

The research team of The Linear Algebra Project developed and implemented a curriculum and a pedagogy for parallel courses in (a) linear algebra and (b) learning theory as applied to the study of mathematics with an emphasis on linear algebra. The purpose of the ongoing research, partially funded by the National Science Foundation, is to investigate how the parallel study of learning theories and advanced mathematics influences the development of thinking of individuals in both domains. The researchers found that the particular synergy afforded by the parallel study of math and learning theory promoted, in some students, a rich understanding of both domains and that had a mutually reinforcing effect. Furthermore, there is evidence that the deeper insights will contribute to more effective instruction by those who become high school math teachers and, consequently, better learning by their students. The courses developed were appropriate for mathematics majors, pre-service secondary mathematics teachers, and practicing mathematics teachers. The learning seminar focused most heavily on constructivist theories, although it also examined socio-cultural and historical perspectives. A particular theory, Action-Process-Object-Schema (APOS) [10], was emphasized and examined through the lens of studying linear algebra. APOS has been used in a variety of studies focusing on student understanding of undergraduate mathematics. The linear algebra courses include the standard set of undergraduate topics. This paper reports the results of the learning theory seminar and its effects on students who were simultaneously enrolled in linear algebra and students who had previously completed linear algebra and outlines how prior research has influenced the future direction of the project.     

中美大学数学教育研究之比较

论证了大学数学教育是高等教育的核心,数学教育本质上是一种素质教育,数学的应用遍及自然科学和社会科学.数学是大学理工科各专业知识的基础;探讨了大学数学教育研究的重要性,对中美大学数学教育的研究进行了对比,指出我们在研究大学数学教育方面的不足之处,提出了我们在大学数学教育研究方面的任务和目标.     

情景教学在高等数学教学中的应用

数学的特点是抽象的,但认识事物需要形象.情景教学提供了将抽象转化为形象的方法,藉此可提高学生的学习兴趣.     

An APOS study on pre-service teachers’ understanding of injections and surjections

This study was undertaken to explore pre-service teachers’ understanding of injections and surjections. There were 54 pre-service teachers specialising in the teaching of Mathematics in Grades 10–12 curriculum who participated in the project. The concepts were covered as part of a real analysis course at a South African university. Questionnaires based on an initial genetic decomposition of the concepts of surjective and injective functions were administered to the 54 participants. Their written responses, which were used to identify the mental constructions of these concepts, were analysed using an APOS (action-process-object-schema) framework and five interviews were carried out. The findings indicated that most participants constructed only Action conceptions of bijection and none demonstrated the construction of an Object conception of this concept. Difficulties in understanding can be related to students’ lack of construction of the concepts of functions and sets that are a prerequisite to working with bijections.     

Students’ understanding of the relation between tangent plane and directional derivatives of functions of two variables

APOS Theory is applied to study student understanding of directional derivatives of functions of two variables. A conjecture of mental constructions that students may do in order to come to understand the idea of a directional derivative is proposed and is tested by conducting semi-structured interviews with 26 students. The conjectured mental construction of directional derivative is largely based on the notion of slope. The interviews explored the specific conjectured constructions that student were able to do, the ones they had difficulty doing, as well as unexpected mental constructions that students seemed to do. The results of the empirical study suggest specific mental constructions that play a key role in the development of student understanding, common student difficulties typically overlooked in instruction, and ways to improve student understanding of this multivariable calculus topic. A refined version of the genetic decomposition for this concept is presented.     

The basis step in the construction of the principle of mathematical induction based on APOS theory

Using APOS theory as the framework along with a case study from a perspective within the methodological design of APOS theory, this study presents a cognitive model of the Principle of Mathematical Induction (PMI) in higher education. Based on evidence from university classrooms and the result of an initial measurement, the genetic decomposition designed by Dubinsky and Lewin for this concept was reformulated, introducing and defining the basis step in the PMI as a mental process. Using this reformulated genetic decomposition, the productions of four university students are analysed in order to support or refute the constructions it proposes. The results show that the reformulated genetic decomposition is viable and that the inclusion of the basis step as a mental process was seen in the cognitive model of the PMI shown by the students. The instruments used provide activities for a teaching sequence for the PMI at university level.     

The potential of recreational mathematics to support the development of mathematical learning

ABSTRACT

A literature review establishes a working definition of recreational mathematics: a type of play which is enjoyable and requires mathematical thinking or skills to engage with. Typically, it is accessible to a wide range of people and can be effectively used to motivate engagement with and develop understanding of mathematical ideas or concepts. Recreational mathematics can be used in education for engagement and to develop mathematical skills, to maintain interest during procedural practice and to challenge and stretch students. It can also make cross-curricular links, including to history of mathematics. In undergraduate study, it can be used for engagement within standard curricula and for extra-curricular interest. Beyond this, there are opportunities to develop important graduate-level skills in problem-solving and communication. The development of a module ‘Game Theory and Recreational Mathematics’ is discussed. This provides an opportunity for fun and play, while developing graduate skills. It teaches some combinatorics, graph theory, game theory and algorithms/complexity, as well as scaffolding a Pólya-style problem-solving process. Assessment of problem-solving as a process via examination is outlined. Student feedback gives some indication that students appreciate the aims of the module, benefit from the explicit focus on problem-solving and understand the active nature of the learning.