A new generation of mathematics textbook research and development

This paper adopts a multimodal approach to the latest generation of digital mathematics textbooks (print and online) to investigate how the design, content, and features facilitate the construction of mathematical knowledge for teaching and learning purposes. The sequential organization of the print version is compared to the interactive format of the online version which foregrounds explanations and important mathematical content while simultaneously ensuring a high level of connectivity and coherence across hierarchical layers of mathematical knowledge. For example, mathematical content in the online version is linked to definitions, theorems, examples and exercises that can be viewed in the original context in which the material was presented, and the content can also be linked to mathematics software. Significantly, the development process for the new generation of mathematics textbooks involves using a ‘design neutral’ markup language so that the books are simultaneously published as both print books and online books. In this development process, the structure of the chapters, sections, and subsections with their various elements are explicitly marked-up in the master document and preserved in the output format, giving rise to new methodologies for large-scale analysis of mathematics textbooks and student use of these books. For example, tracking methodologies and interactive visualizations of student viewings of online mathematical textbooks are identified as new research directions for investigating how students engage with mathematics textbooks within and across different educational contexts.     

Prospective and current secondary mathematics teachers’ criteria for evaluating mathematical cognitive technologies

As technology becomes more ubiquitous in the mathematics classroom, teachers are being asked to incorporate it into their lessons more than ever before. The amount of resources available online is staggering and teachers need to be able to analyse and identify resources that would be most appropriate and effective with their students. This study examines the criteria prospective and current secondary mathematics teachers use and value most when evaluating mathematical cognitive technologies (MCTs). Results indicate all groups of participants developed criteria focused on how well an MCT represents the mathematics, student interaction and engagement with the MCT, and whether the MCT was user-friendly. However, none of their criteria focused on how well an MCT would reflect students’ solution strategies or illuminate their thinking. In addition, there were some differences between the criteria created by participants with and without teaching experience, specifically the types of supports available in an MCT. Implications for mathematics teacher educators are discussed.     

Students’ experiences with mathematics teaching and learning: listening to unheard voices

This study documents students’ views about the nature of mathematics, the mathematics learning process and factors within the classroom that are perceived to impact upon the learning of mathematics. The participants were senior secondary school students. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to understand the students’ views about their experiences with mathematics learning and mathematics classroom environment. Interviews of students and mathematics lesson observations were analysed to understand how students view their mathematics classes. A questionnaire was used to solicit students’ views with regards to teaching approaches in mathematics classes. The results suggest that students consider learning and understanding mathematics to mean being successful in getting the correct answers. Students reported that in the majority of cases, the teaching of mathematics was lecture-oriented. Mathematics language was considered a barrier in learning some topics in mathematics. The use of informal language was also evident during mathematics class lessons.     

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.     

Integration of Technology in the Design of Geometry Tasks with Cabri-Geometry

Beginning with the gap in France between the institutional support for the use of technology in mathematics teaching and its weak integration into teacher practice, this paper claims that integrating technology into teaching is a long process. The aim of the paper is to identify and analyse the steps in this integration using as an example the evolution over time (3 years) in the design of teaching scenarios based on Cabri-géomètre for high school students. The analysis indicates that the role played by the technology moved from being a visual amplifier or provider of data towards being an essential constituent of the meaning of tasks and as a consequence affected the conceptions of the mathematical objects that the students might construct.This revised version was published online in September 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

高等数学教学现状调查分析

高等学校扩大招生后,非数学专业的数学教育面临很多问题,大部分人把这些问题归结为学生质量的下降造成的,这是不公正的.教学过程是一个系统的过程,从对1995级和2005级同一份高等数学(下册)试卷的考试情况进行分析,虽然可以显现出学生的差异,但这些差异不全是学生的质量的问题,应该与教学环境、教学要求、教学方法、师资条件以及社会发展环境等相关联,同时与学生的学习兴趣、学习能力是密不可分的.调查分析这些因素对当代学生的学习和数学教学的影响程度到底有多大,是有效提高大学数学教学质量的前提.     

Can't do maths--understanding students' maths anxiety

The number of students continuing with their mathematics educationpost GCSE level has declined in recent years and hence studentsentering Engineering degrees are reducing. The University ofBirmingham recognized this problem and introduced the Suiteof Technology programme (STP) which no longer requires studentsto have A-level mathematics. Therefore lecturers at universityare now faced with teaching A-level mathematics in order togive the students the mathematical skills for their technologydegree. With little experience of teaching at this level, lecturersfrequently face the challenge of choosing the most appropriatelevel for a lecture that encourages students to engage withand learn a subject that they are novices in. It turned outthat some students have a mathematics anxiety and hence thebiggest challenge for a lecturer is supporting the studentsovercoming this fear of mathematics. Choosing the appropriatestarting level for any lecture and the fear of mathematics wasacknowledged during a peer learning group meeting as part ofthe Post Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in HigherEducation (PGCLTHE) at the University of Birmingham. In orderto explore this further, a session of mathematics was taughtby a Civil Engineering lecturer to fellow peers who do not havean engineering background. This article describes the mathematicsteaching session, reflections from the lecturer and the learners,and the impact that this had on teaching mathematics to undergraduates.Further, the article explores the difficulties and challengesexperienced by lecturers when teaching mathematics as a servicesubject.     

Factors shaping mathematics lecturers’ service teaching in different departments

In this article we focus on university lecturers’ approaches to the service teaching and factors that influence their approaches. We present data obtained from the interviews with 19 mathematics and three physics lecturers along with the observations of two mathematics lecturers’ calculus courses. The findings show that lecturers’ approaches to teaching the same topic vary across departments; that is, they consciously privilege different aspects of mathematics, set different questions on examinations and follow different textbooks while teaching in different departments. We discuss factors influencing lecturers’ decision of what (mathematics) to teach in different departments and offer educational implications for service mathematics teaching in terms of students’ mathematical needs and the role of mathematics for client students.     

如何在高等数学教学中培养学生的创新思维

创新是当今的时代精神.创新能力的培养是实施素质教育的重要目标之一.高等数学作为高等教育的重点基础课程,在训练和培养学生创新能力方面具有重要地位.如何在高等数学教学过程中培养学生的创新思维,提高创新能力是我们高等数学教学改革的重要任务.文章通过对当前教育形势的分析以及创新思维的特点的思考,从教学理念、教学模式以及教学内容三个方面讨论了在高等数学教学过程中学生的创新思维的培养问题.     

How to make mathematics relevant to first-year engineering students: perceptions of students on student-produced resources

Many approaches to make mathematics relevant to first-year engineering students have been described. These include teaching practical engineering applications, or a close collaboration between engineering and mathematics teaching staff on unit design and teaching. In this paper, we report on a novel approach where we gave higher year engineering and multimedia students the task to ‘make maths relevant’ for first-year students. This approach is novel as we moved away from the traditional thinking that staff should produce these resources to students producing the same. These students have more recently undertaken first-year mathematical study themselves and can also provide a more mature student perspective to the task than first-year students. Two final-year engineering students and three final-year multimedia students worked on this project over the Australian summer term and produced two animated videos showing where concepts taught in first-year mathematics are applied by professional engineers. It is this student perspective on how to make mathematics relevant to first-year students that we investigate in this paper. We analyse interviews with higher year students as well as focus groups with first-year students who had been shown the videos in class, with a focus on answering the following three research questions: (1) How would students demonstrate the relevance of mathematics in engineering? (2) What are first-year students' views on the resources produced for them? (3) Who should produce resources to demonstrate the relevance of mathematics? There seemed to be some disagreement between first- and final-year students as to how the importance of mathematics should be demonstrated in a video. We therefore argue that it should ideally be a collaboration between higher year students and first-year students, with advice from lecturers, to produce such resources.     

Preservice Teachers of High School Mathematics: Success,Failure, and Persistence in the Face of Mathematical Challenges

The goal of this study was to identify variables related to success and resilience in an undergraduate, high school mathematics teacher education program. Over a five‐year period, we tracked the academic performance and achievement motivation goals of multiple cohorts of students. Students who successfully completed their degrees had higher grade point average (GPAs) upon entering the program, earned higher grades in their first college mathematics course, and failed fewer courses than students who left the program or university. Learning and performance motivational goals did not predict success in the program. Performance goals decreased over time. Nearly half the successful students repeated one or more mathematics courses. Ten students completed their degrees, obtained a teaching license, and are teaching despite the need for multiple repetitions of the same mathematics courses. These persistent students did not differ from their peers in motivational goals. Our results suggest that although students with higher GPAs and initial mathematics grades were more likely to complete the program, students who experienced challenges in mathematics courses were able to succeed. We discuss the implications of these results for recruiting, advising, and retention of students in mathematics education programs.     

模糊数学精品课程建设与实践

模糊数学课程是我校各专业研究生的一门重要的公共基础课,实施模糊数学核心课程建设,对于深化教学改革、提高教学质量以及培养研究生的实践能力和创新能力起着极其重要的作用,从模糊数学课程性质、目的和任务人手,较详细地阐述了模糊数学课程的教学内容、体系,教学模式和手段等系列改革以及模糊数学课程建设中取得的显著成效。     

元认知在高等数学教学中的作用及培养途径

元认知是认知主体对自身认知活动的认知,大学生的元认知能力对高等数学教学具有很大的影响作用.在高等数学教学中应通过多种途径,把培养和发展大学生的元认知能力作为一项重要教学任务来完成.     

Teacher's reflections on experimenting with technology-enriched inquiry-based mathematics teaching with a preplanned teaching unit

According to previous studies, inquiry-based mathematics teaching enhances learning. However, teachers need support in implementing this type of teaching. In this study, a high school teacher was given a short preplanned inquiry-based mathematics teaching unit that included activities with GeoGebra. The teacher was interviewed after every lesson to explore her reflections after teaching. I analyzed how the teacher described the differences between her regular teaching style and the teaching unit and the pros and cons of the teaching unit. The teacher reflected on the roles of the teacher and students, depth of students’ knowledge, her stance toward the teaching unit, constraints for using this type of teaching approach, and challenges in guiding the students. The results give insights to what kind of reflections on technology-enriched inquiry-based mathematics teaching it is possible to initiate with short preplanned teaching units.     

关于外招生高等数学教学的思考

针对当前暨南大学外招生高等数学教学中存在的问题,从外招生的不同内在需要和个性特点出发,对他们学习高等数学需要的教学方法展开探讨,以期能够提高教学质量,实现对外招生高等数学教学最优化.     

独立学院高等数学课程的几种分层次教学方案探讨

独立学院办学规模的快速扩张导致学生的数学素质参差不齐,给高等数学的教学带来新的挑战.在已有的分层次教学法的基础上,结合独立学院的实际情况,探讨了适合独立学院的按教学对象分层次、教学内容分层次和教学模式分层次的几种分层次教学方案.     

刍议大学数学教学活动的问题与对策

当前各高校的大学数学教学或多或少存在一些不协调的地方,如理科类学生课程深度过大,文科类学生数学能力弱,考核试卷的难度控制不好等等.针对大学数学的教学法及大众化教育的分析研究,结合教学实践,提出大学数学教学改革的一些对策.     

高等数学教学方法的研究与实践

结合自身的教学经验,总结归纳了高等数学的教学方法与实践过程.主要从以下几个方面作了阐述:如何激发学生学习高等数学的兴趣,变被动学习为主动学习;如何将抽象问题直观化;如何将归纳和类比的方法应用到高等数学教学中;如何在教学中拓宽知识面,培养学生的发散思维.     

高等数学在线教学的设计与实践

2020年春天一场突发的新冠疫情让全国大中小学的教师面临全新的在线教学,在“停课不停教、停课不停学”、确保人才培养“不断线、不降质”的思想指导下,根据高等数学在线教学的全过程,归纳总结了课前、课中、课后各个实施环节设计与实践过程,并给出了在线教学的若干教学案例.     

The impact of instructor pedagogy on college calculus students’ attitude toward mathematics

College calculus teaches students important mathematical concepts and skills. The course also has a substantial impact on students’ attitude toward mathematics, affecting their career aspirations and desires to take more mathematics. This national US study of 3103 students at 123 colleges and universities tracks changes in students’ attitudes toward mathematics during a ‘mainstream’ calculus course while controlling for student backgrounds. The attitude measure combines students’ self-ratings of their mathematics confidence, interest in, and enjoyment of mathematics. Three major kinds of instructor pedagogy, identified through the factor analysis of 61 student-reported variables, are investigated for impact on student attitude as follows: (1) instructors who employ generally accepted ‘good teaching’ practices (e.g. clarity in presentation and answering questions, useful homework, fair exams, help outside of class) are found to have the most positive impact, particularly with students who began with a weaker initial attitude. (2) Use of educational ‘technology’ (e.g. graphing calculators, for demonstrations, in homework), on average, is found to have no impact on attitudes, except when used by graduate student instructors, which negatively affects students’ attitudes towards mathematics. (3) ‘Ambitious teaching’ (e.g. group work, word problems, ‘flipped’ reading, student explanations of thinking) has a small negative impact on student attitudes, while being a relatively more constructive influence only on students who already enjoyed a positive attitude toward mathematics and in classrooms with a large number of students. This study provides support for efforts to improve calculus teaching through the training of faculty and graduate students to use traditional ‘good teaching’ practices through professional development workshops and courses. As currently implemented, technology and ambitious pedagogical practices, while no doubt effective in certain classrooms, do not appear to have a reliable, positive impact on student attitudes toward mathematics.