Prior decisions and experiences about mathematics of students in bridging courses

We report on the survey responses of 51 students attending mathematics bridging courses at a major Australian university, investigating what mathematics, if any, these students had studied in the senior years of schooling and what factors affected their decisions about the level of mathematics chosen. Quantitative findings are augmented by qualitative responses to open-ended questions in the survey as well as excerpts from follow-up emails. The findings show that the major reasons for students taking lower levels of mathematics in senior year(s), or dropping mathematics, include finding enough time for non-mathematics subjects, confidence in mathematical capability, advice and maximizing potential ranking for university admission.     

高等数学教育价值的缺失与对策

针对高等数学教学只重视数学的工具价值而忽视其人文价值的问题,分析高等数学教育价值缺失的具体原因,并给出相应的解决方案,即在课堂教学中使用数学史、融入对科学品质的培养和数学美教育、渗透数学建模思想、使用数学模型方法。     

高等数学在中学数学建模中指导作用

本文用典型的例子说明如何在中学数学建模中有效地使用高等数学的思想和方法 ,促进高等数学和中学数学的有机结合 .     

The Mathematics Attitudes and Perceptions Survey: an instrument to assess expert-like views and dispositions among undergraduate mathematics students

One goal of an undergraduate education in mathematics is to help students develop a productive disposition towards mathematics. A way of conceiving of this is as helping mathematical novices transition to more expert-like perceptions of mathematics. This conceptualization creates a need for a way to characterize students' perceptions of mathematics in authentic educational settings. This article presents a survey, the Mathematics Attitudes and Perceptions Survey (MAPS), designed to address this need. We present the development of the MAPS instrument and its validation on a large (N = 3411) set of student data. Results from various MAPS implementations corroborate results from analogous instruments in other STEM disciplines. We present these results and highlight some in particular: MAPS scores correlate with course grades; students tend to move away from expert-like orientations over a semester or year of taking a mathematics course; and interactive-engagement type lectures have less of a negative impact, but no positive impact, on students' overall orientations than traditional lecturing. We include the MAPS instrument in this article and suggest ways in which it may deepen our understanding of undergraduate mathematics education.     

计算机及数学软件在高职数学教学中的应用

阐述了计算机与数学软件运用于高等职业教育数学教学中的设想与实践探索．把数学实验作为传统教学、计算机和数学软件相结合的一种实践,贯穿于日常的教学过程,并列举了对应的课堂教学具体实例加以展示．最后指出,高职数学教学中应该加强这种教学模式的设计和开发．     

Traditional instruction in advanced mathematics courses: a case study of one professor’s lectures and proofs in an introductory real analysis course

It is widely accepted by mathematics educators and mathematicians that most proof-oriented university mathematics courses are taught in a “definition-theorem-proof” format. However, there are relatively few empirical studies on what takes place during this instruction, why this instruction is used, and how it affects students’ learning. In this paper, I investigate these issues by examining a case study of one professor using this type of instruction in an introductory real analysis course. I first describe the professor’s actions in the classroom and argue that these actions are the result of the professor’s beliefs about mathematics, students, and education, as well as his knowledge of the material being covered. I then illustrate how the professor’s teaching style influenced the way that his students attempted to learn the material. Finally, I discuss the implications that the reported data have on mathematics education research.     

Implementation and outcomes of inquiry-based learning in mathematics content courses for pre-service teachers

This mixed-methods study describes classroom characteristics and student outcomes from university mathematics courses that are based in mathematics departments, targeted to future pre-tertiary teachers, and taught with inquiry-based learning (IBL) approaches. The study focused on three two-term sequences taught at two research universities, separately targeting elementary and secondary pre-service teachers. Classroom observation established that the courses were taught with student-centred methods that were comparable to those used in IBL courses for students in mathematics-intensive fields at the same institutions. To measure pre-service teachers' gains in mathematical knowledge for teaching, we administered the Learning Mathematics for Teaching (LMT) instrument developed by Hill, Ball and Schilling for in-service teacher professional development. Results from the LMT show that pre-service teachers made significant score gains from beginning to end of their course, while data from interviews and from surveys of learning gains show that pre-service teachers viewed their gains as relevant to their future teaching work. Measured changes on pre-/post-surveys of attitudes and beliefs were generally supportive of learning mathematics but modest in magnitude. The study is distinctive in applying the LMT to document pre-service teachers' growth in mathematical knowledge for teaching. The study also suggests IBL is an approach well suited to mathematics departments seeking to strengthen their pre-service teacher preparation offerings in ways consistent with research-based recommendations.     

数学建模对高职数学基础课程改革的推动作用

针对高职办学定位和生源基础,开发高职专业案例,将数学建模思想融入常规教学,创新高职数学教学模式,在数学建模活动的普及中破除"数学无用"的偏见、降低高职学生对学数学的心理畏惧。对大数据时代进一步扩大数学建模对高职数学课程改革的影响力提出了关注数据处理、开发共享资源和引领高职本科数学教学方向等对策建议。     

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.     

浅谈在高等数学教学中如何将基本概念形象化

高等数学中的基本概念具有高度抽象性，是教师讲授的难点，也是学生学习的重点，而基本概念的掌握是学生学习理解高等数学的关键，也是培养学生学习兴趣的前提．本总结了多种方法，将基本概念形象化变为可“听”，可“看”，可“摸”，降低了基本概念的教与学难度，提高了学生学好高等数学的兴趣。     

Using the Knowledge Quartet to quantify mathematical knowledge in teaching: the development of a protocol for Initial Teacher Education

This study examined trainee teachers' mathematical knowledge in teaching (MKiT) over their final year in a US Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme. This paper reports on an exploratory methodological approach taken to use the Knowledge Quartet to quantify MKiT through the development of a new protocol to code trainees' teaching of mathematics lessons. This approach extends Rowland's et al. work on the Knowledge Quartet (KQ). Justification for using the KQ to quantify MKiT, and the potential benefits such an attempt might provide those involved with ITE, are discussed. It is suggested that quantified MKiT data based on the Knowledge Quartet can be used to consider MKiT development in novice teachers in order to inform ITE programmes and form new theoretical loops between theory and practice in teacher education.     

关于高等数学课程分层次教学的实践与思考

高等数学在高校课程体系中具有十分重要的地位．在高等教育进入大众化教育阶段的背景下,本文介绍了我校高等数学课程分层次教学的改革实践与经验,阐述了该教学模式对提高学生的数学素质和对教学质量的作用,同时也指出了存在的主要问题．     

Mathematical tasks,study approaches,and course grades in undergraduate mathematics: a year-by-year analysis

Students approach learning in different ways, depending on the experienced learning situation. A deep approach is geared toward long-term retention and conceptual change while a surface approach focuses on quickly acquiring knowledge for immediate use. These approaches ultimately affect the students’ academic outcomes. This study takes a cross-sectional look at the approaches to learning used by students from courses across all four years of undergraduate mathematics and analyses how these relate to the students’ grades. We find that deep learning correlates with grade in the first year and not in the upper years. Surficial learning has no correlation with grades in the first year and a strong negative correlation with grades in the upper years. Using Bloom's taxonomy, we argue that the nature of the tasks given to students is fundamentally different in lower and upper year courses. We find that first-year courses emphasize tasks that require only low-level cognitive processes. Upper year courses require higher level processes but, surprisingly, have a simultaneous greater emphasis on recall and understanding. These observations explain the differences in correlations between approaches to learning and course grades. We conclude with some concerns about the disconnect between first year and upper year mathematics courses and the effect this may have on students.     

Retention of differential and integral calculus: a case study of a university student in physical chemistry

This paper reports a study on retention of differential and integral calculus concepts of a second-year student of physical chemistry at a Danish university. The focus was on what knowledge the student retained 14 months after the course and on what effect beliefs about mathematics had on the retention. We argue that if a student can quickly reconstruct the knowledge, given a few hints, this is just as good as retention. The study was conducted using a mixed method approach investigating students’ knowledge in three worlds of mathematics. The results showed that the student had a very low retention of concepts, even after hints. However, after completing the calculus course, the student had successfully used calculus in a physical chemistry study programme. Hence, using calculus in new contexts does not in itself strengthen the original calculus learnt; they appeared as disjoint bodies of knowledge.     

Exploring students' mathematical performance,metacognitive experiences and skills in relation to fundamental theorem of calculus

Several studies have explored students’ understanding of the relationships between definite integrals and areas under curve(s). So far, however, there has been less attention to students’ understanding of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus (FTC). In addition, students’ metacognitive experiences and skills whilst solving FTC questions have not previously been explored. This paper explored students’ mathematical performance, metacognitive experiences and metacognitive skills in relation to FTC questions by interviewing nine university and eight Year 13 students. The findings show that several students had difficulty solving questions related to the FTC and that students’ metacognitive experiences and skills could be further developed.     

在新形势下充分发挥高校科协作用

本文论述了高校科协在新形势下，如何落实“科学技术是第一生产力”的指导思想，在高校科技与经济发展的实践中，充分发挥广大科技工作者的作用，围绕着党的中心工作开展科学技术活动，为发展科技事业，推动科技进步，加强精神文明建设，做出应有的贡献。     

Three dimensional finite element model to study heat flow in dermal regions of elliptical and tapered shape human limbs

In this paper a three-dimensional steady state model has been developed to study heat flow in dermal regions of tapered shape human limbs, which are elliptical in shape. The model incorporates the important biophysical parameters like blood mass flow rate, thermal conductivity and rate of metabolic heat generation. Appropriate boundary conditions have been framed using biophysical conditions. The finite element method has been employed using coaxial elliptical hexahedral elements to solve the problem. MATLAB 7.0 has been used to simulate the model and obtain numerical results.     

Weierstrass points and their impact in the study of algebraic curves: a historical account from the “Lückensatz” to the 1970s

In this note we give a historical account of the origin and the development of the concept of Weierstrass point. We also explain how Weierstrass points have contributed to the study of compact Riemann surfaces and algebraic curves in the century from Weierstrass’ statement of the gap theorem to the 1970s. In particular, we focus on the seminal work of Hürwitz that raised questions which are at the center of contemporary research on this topic.