New technology: an example of the potential to influence the mathematics curriculum

The mathematics behind the design and use of bar codes is outlined. The paper makes the point that while recent technological developmens are being used to enhance the way mathematics is taught, there is another equally important aspect of new technology. This is the mathematics needed to develop the technology which could influence future mathematics curricula in schools and colleges. This aspect is explained by looking closely at the mathematics used in bar code design.     

离散数学的翻转课堂教学法研究

离散数学是计算机专业的重要的基础课程.但是离散数学课程抽象难懂、教学模式单一、理论实际结合能力差,从而影响了这一课程的教学效果.为了提升离散数学的教学效果,面向学生翻转课堂的教学模式被引入.翻转课堂通过视频、示例或者项目、以及拓展等方式充分发挥学生为中心,教师辅助的教学理念,提升学生学习的主动性,提升离散数学的教学效果,为后续计算机专业课程奠定良好的基础.     

新课标体系下高中数学对大学工科数学教学产生的问题分析及对策探索

大学工科数学的部分基础内容下移于高中数学,高中数学中原有的基础内容又有所删减,大学工科数学的教材内容并没有因此而调整.所以,新课标体系下的高中数学教学对大学工科数学教学产生了深刻的影响.本文分析了大学工科数学教学面临的问题,在此基础上,结合作者多年的教学实践,探索性的提出了解决问题的对策.     

Trends of the history of mathematics education in Brazil

The text aims at characterizing and analyzing the production of the history of mathematics education in Brazil. The study takes the presentations from the last National Seminar of History of Mathematics as a starting point. Such event gathered researchers, in a more significant and comprising way, interested in historical studies of mathematics and its teaching. The characterization points at the existence of four different tendencies: a production that considers the studies about history of mathematics education as part of the research about history of mathematics; a trend of opinions that takes into account the pedagogical use of history in mathematics education and establishes conditions for the research in the history of mathematics education; studies that use oral history for mathematics teachers’ training courses; and, finally, another trend that treats the history of mathematics education as history, that means, a specificity of historical production, having the mathematics education as an object. It will be shown that the characterization of those trends reveals different ways of representing the past of mathematics education, as well as the relationships Brazilian researches keep with international studies about this subject.     

一位鲜为人知的数学教育家——纪念胡文耀博士诞辰一百三十周年

胡文耀先生于1913年获比利时鲁汶大学的数学博士学位(博士论文有待查找).从1915年起,他投身于祖国的教育事业,在京、沪高校教授高等数学,主持全国性数学名词的审定,参与民国政府教育部的大学数学课程的确定,却于1935年中国数学会成立之际,淡出了数学界.本文拟将蒙尘近百年的胡文耀数学教育的史料公之于世,让读者走近这位鲜为人知的数学教育家.     

Economy: the absent centre of mathematics education

Social and political turns in mathematics education research have brought into the field postmodern theorisations that researchers have been using to dismantle traditional philosophies of mathematics, to posit mathematics in the sociocultural terrain, and to spell out the role mathematics has in school exclusion. Sociopolitical perspectives constitute a privileged field of research to address the influence of economy on mathematical achievement. However, instead of investigating the role of economy in students’ achievement, sociopolitical studies have been contributing to a disavowal of the economic dimension of school mathematics. This paper synthesises a set of investigations carried out by the author in the last 5 years endeavouring to posit mathematics education in the political and economic spectrum of our time. It takes advantage of the contemporary combination of Hegel’s dialectics, Lacanian psychoanalysis and Marx’s critique of political economy, carried out by Slavoj ?i?ek, to develop a critique of the way research within the so-called ‘sociopolitical turn’ deals with the issue of equity; and marks out the contours of mathematics education’s ideological belonging.     

Policy issues in the teaching and learning of the mathem atical sciences at university level

Policy decisions and their implementation impact on the teaching and learning of mathematics in many ways. Sometimes this is overt and takes account of local factors and professional opinion. However global economic policies, often dominated by the actions of huge multinational corporations, can have considerable influence on all aspects of education including mathematics education. These policies appear to be creating greater inequity between and within nations. Quality mathematics education for all, a recurring theme at International Congress on Mathematical Education meetings, is becoming less of a reality. At the same time, mathematics education at every level is increasingly influenced by powerful bureaucrats rather than by the profession. It is suggested that mathematical scientists need to try to understand the political forces affecting mathematics education for the ICMI study on teaching and learning mathematics at the tertiary level to have maximum impact.     

Cognitive opportunities in textbooks: the cases of grade four and eight textbooks in Israel

The cognitive domain in mathematics, defined as thinking and understanding in the process of learning mathematics, is a main focus of curricula in many countries. This study explores breadth and depth of understanding as addressed in mathematics textbooks certified as aligned to Israeli national mathematics curricula. We compare opportunities for students to engage with mathematics requiring different types and levels of understanding provided by the tasks in mathematics textbooks. Comparison of two fourth grade and two eighth grade mathematics textbooks showed significant differences in the opportunities to learn in the cognitive domain that each provides. These differences can be quantified; the quantification defines the cognitive demand of the textbook. The cognitive demand of the four textbooks varies. This reveals a potential source of inequity in students’ opportunities to learn mathematics. Results should prompt discussion around standardization and alignment of textbooks to the cognitive goals of the curriculum.     

对国内三大全文数据库所收数学类期刊现状的比较研究

对国内三大全文数据库所收录的数学类期刊进行比较研究,目的是为广大的数学工作者获取与利用国内数学电子资源提供参考与帮助.     

New Perspectives on the Gender Stereotyping of Mathematics

Historically, mathematics has been stereotyped as a male domain, and there is considerable evidence to support this belief. In the last 30 years, mathematics education researchers have uncovered a range of factors contributing to the documented achievement and participation differences that favored males and sought to redress them. Mathematics as a male domain, one of the subscales of the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitude Scales (1976), has been used widely to assess the extent to which mathematics is stereotyped as a masculine sphere. It has been argued that some of the items comprising the subscale are anachronistic and that the subscale scores can no longer be interpreted reliably. In this article we outline the development of two new instruments-the mathematics as a gendered domain instrument and the who and mathematics instrument-that have been designed to overcome the limitations of the original Fennema-Sherman mathematics as a male domain subscale. We also present findings from the administration of the two instruments in Australia, where they were developed, and in the United States, the site of the trials of the original Fennema-Sherman scales. The results indicate that females feel more strongly than males about some aspects of gender stereotyping in mathematics although, in general, most students feel that mathematics is gender neutral.     

New Perspectives on the Gender Stereotyping of Mathematics

Historically, mathematics has been stereotyped as a male domain, and there is considerable evidence to support this belief. In the last 30 years, mathematics education researchers have uncovered a range of factors contributing to the documented achievement and participation differences that favored males and sought to redress them. Mathematics as a male domain, one of the subscales of the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitude Scales (1976), has been used widely to assess the extent to which mathematics is stereotyped as a masculine sphere. It has been argued that some of the items comprising the subscale are anachronistic and that the subscale scores can no longer be interpreted reliably. In this article we outline the development of two new instruments-the mathematics as a gendered domain instrument and the who and mathematics instrument-that have been designed to overcome the limitations of the original Fennema-Sherman mathematics as a male domain subscale. We also present findings from the administration of the two instruments in Australia, where they were developed, and in the United States, the site of the trials of the original Fennema-Sherman scales. The results indicate that females feel more strongly than males about some aspects of gender stereotyping in mathematics although, in general, most students feel that mathematics is gender neutral.     

The hidden mathematics of the mars exploration rover mission

Conclusions  A lot of the mathematics of MER is hidden and not only from the public but even from the applied scientists working on the mission. As briefly sketched above, for the scientists, this could be disastrous in a worst-case scenario. The hiding of mathematics, both in our everyday life and within science itself, is a matter not often discussed in public —which in itself is a disaster, taking into account the consequences the hiding of mathematics might have for the public. We like to think that this article may help let in some light. Another question raised by our work is that of beliefs in mathematics. Only occasionally are the beliefs of mathematicians discussed. We found repeatedly that mathematical elements of MER are not actually considered to be mathematics among the applied scientists themselves, not on first hand anyway. Is this due to the fundamentally different views of what mathematics is between applied scientists (including engineers) and pure scientists of the 20th century? We do not know. Finally, we comment on the nature of the mathematics involved in MER. Because of the extreme nature of a Mars mission, one might expect “extreme” mathematics, mathematics developed for the sole purpose of this mission.     

如何提高高等数学课堂教学的质量

数学的课堂教学过程是在教师的传授和指导下进行学习、掌握数学知识、技能、思想、方法的一种认识过程.影响数学课堂教学质量的因素是多方面的,本文仅就提高高等数学课堂教学质量谈几点个人的认识.     

Socio-economic and cultural mediators of mathematics achievement and between-school equity in mathematics education at the global level

This paper aims at identifying and understanding how and to what extent socioeconomic and cultural factors mediate mathematics achievement and between-school equity in mathematics education among countries. First, under the assumption that equity and quality of education are independent constructs, the construct of equity-in-quality in mathematics education is developed. Second, the 18 countries that were identified in the previous work of the author Jurdak in (Toward equity in quality in mathematics education. Springer, New York, 2009) as being diverse in mathematics education will serve as study cases to illustrate, compare, and contrast the mediatory role of socio-economic and cultural factors in mathematics achievement and between-school equity in mathematics education. The results show that the differences in mathematics achievement and between-school equity in mathematics education at the country level are associated with, and can be accounted for in some cases, by socioeconomic and cultural factors.     

浅析对数学史教育的认识与实施

数学史教育在大学数学教育中具有重要的意义.有助于学生理解数学知识的本质,培养学生的思维能力.有必要开设数学史课程或在专业课教学中渗透数学史知识;有适合学生的专门数学史教材;进行数学史教育要联系学生的数学知识,要深入浅出;要注意数学精神的宣传.     

Mathematics,manifest: a review of Mathematics: the Winton Gallery at the Science Museum

Mathematics: the Winton Gallery strives, like any exhibition concerning mathematics, to make meaningful contact between the abstruse realms of mathematics and the viewing audience. Unlike many other exhibitions, this is here accomplished by displaying a rich range of objects that demonstrate the essential role of mathematics in the world by emphasizing connections to the viewers’ existing cognitive environments. Through a focus on the ways that mathematical work affects and informs our human world, the exhibition succeeds in connecting a mathematical way of thinking with the lives of the viewing public in a complex and profound way, in exchange for their efforts and attention. While an approach which places the interweave of life and mathematics at its centre may invite worries about the representation of pure mathematics or whether such a strategy insulates the viewer from an understanding of ‘real’ mathematics, what this exhibition does is to offer a sense of the mind-set that underscores mathematical work. By revealing the implications of this mode of thought, the exhibition encourages the audience to understand their own lives and world in a more mathematically-oriented way, while also encouraging them to understand mathematics in terms of the ways their human world is already formed.     

大学数学与中学数学教学内容衔接研究

数学教育是一个完整的科学体系,对大学数学教育与中学数学教育进行衔接研究具有重要意义,而教学内容的衔接是二者衔接的一个重要方面.本文根据大学数学和中学数学教学中较普遍使用的经典教材,对大学数学和中学数学教学内容从数学符号使用、教学内容重叠、教学内容遗漏三个方面进行详细归纳总结,对于大学数学教学和大学数学教材的编写具有一定借鉴作用.     

A multidimensional approach to training mathematics students at a university: improving the efficiency through the unity of social,psychological and pedagogical aspects

The article deals with social, psychological and pedagogical aspects of teaching mathematics students at universities. The sociological portrait and the factors influencing a career choice of a mathematician have been investigated through the survey results of 198 first-year students of applied mathematics major at 27 state universities (Russia). Then, psychological characteristics of mathematics students have been examined based on scientific publications. The obtained results have allowed us to reveal pedagogical conditions and specific ways of training mathematics students in the process of their education at university. The article also contains the analysis of approaches to the development of mathematics education both in Russia and in other countries. The results may be useful for teaching students whose training requires in-depth knowledge of mathematics.     

A quantitative study of the effects of informal mathematics activities on the beliefs of preservice elementary school teachers

This study sought to determine the relationship between participation in informal mathematics activities and the formal-to-informal beliefs of university teacher candidates in elementary education. Three classes of preservice teachers participated in the study through their enrollment in a content mathematics course for elementary education majors. Four informal mathematics activities were employed as part of the course requirements. Before and after formal-to-informal beliefs about mathematics and mathematics instruction were measured using a Likert-scale beliefs assessment instrument used by Collier (J Res Math Educ 3(3):155?C163, 1972) and Seaman et al. (School Sci Math 105(4):197?C210, 2005). Changes in beliefs about mathematics and mathematics instruction were compared to a control group. Student reflection upon personal experience derived from participation in the activities was analyzed for formal and informal belief statements.