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.     

Emergent models in a reinvention activity for learning the slope of a curve

Introducing the slope of a curve as the limit of the slope of secant lines is a well-known challenge in mathematics education. As an alternative, three other approaches can be recognized, based on linear approximation, based on multiplicities, or based on transition points. In this study we investigated which of these approaches fits students most by analyzing students’ inventions during a lesson scenario revolving around a design problem. The problem is set in a context that is meaningful to students and invites them to invent methods to construct a tangent line to a curve: an implementation of the guided reinvention principle from Realistic Mathematics Education (RME). The teaching scenario is based on the phased lesson structure of the Theory of Didactical Situations (TDS). The scenario was tested with 44 groups of three students in six grade 9 or 10 classrooms. We classified the strategies used by students and, using the emergent models-principle from RME, investigated to which of the four approaches the student strategies connect best. The results show that the groups produced a variety of strategies in each classroom and these strategies contributed to a meaningful institutionalization of the notion of slope of a curve.     

Constrained group balancing: Why does it work

We consider a problem where a set of objects possessing multiple attributes must be partitioned into a certain number of groups so that the groups are as balanced as possible with respect to the number of objects possessing each attribute. This multi-criteria decision problem arises in a variety of practical applications, ranging from assigning students to study groups to designing level schedules for JIT assembly lines. A direct approach, enforcing balance through hard constraints, may lead to infeasibility, but works well in practice. We analyze this phenomenon from the worst-case and empirical perspectives, as well as through an in-depth analysis of one representative practical application – the design of student groups at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. The goals of the analysis are to understand what classes of balancing problems may contain infeasible instances and how prevalent such instances are within these classes, as well as to synthesize practical managerial insights that a decision maker could follow in order to increase the chances that balanced groups can be found.     

香精香料化妆品通识课程案例教学的探索与实践

在香精香料化妆品通识课程中引入案例教学法的实践证明,案例教学法不仅能调动学生的学习积极性,加深对抽象原理或概念的理解和掌握,而且有助于提高学生分析、解决实际问题的能力,同时达到教学相长的效果。     

哈佛大学物理专业拔尖人才培养模式探讨

探讨了哈佛大学物理专业拔尖人才的培养模式,诸如严谨与灵活并重的遴选方式、广度与深度并举的学业方案、宽松与紧致共存的评价体制、合作与竞争同在的集群建设.     

高职院校药物化学融入课程思政的探索与实践*

对药物化学进行了融入课程思政的改革与实践。首先,以药物化学的知识和能力为载体提炼了4个素质目标,并将4个素质目标根植于课程标准中;然后筛选了表达4个素质目标的最佳教学资源载体,并通过设计不同的教学模式在课堂上进行表达;最后还通过在教学评价中增加素质目标考核的内容来促进素质目标的达成。通过以上途径可以很好地发挥专业课程的育人功能。     

Expanded understanding of student conceptions of engineers: Validation of the modified draw-an-engineer test (mDAET) scoring rubric

With this research, we sought to expand the pool of engineering education assessment instruments. We drew upon earlier efforts to define an expanded protocol for prompting children's drawings of engineers; and evaluate the reliability of a new scoring rubric for the modified Draw-an-Engineer Test (mDAET). An earlier paper introduced our ground theory approach in gathering theoretical propositions derived from children's drawings, explanations of engineers (n = 940) to develop the mDAET Scoring Rubric. Here we evaluate the reliability of the mDAET, a component of the larger mDAET rubric validation process. In the current study, eight participants scored twelve sets (including anchor sets) of drawings (n = 36) and, scores across drawings were evaluated by percentage match with the known-score and interrater reliability. Kappa values for exact matches across eight raters met the threshold for “substantial” agreement and matches that were exact or adjacent indicated “almost perfect” agreement. Notably, 92% of the possible matches among common anchor items were either exact or adjacent matches. These results indicate adequate inter-rater reliability evidence of the mDAET scoring rubric and demonstrate the feasibility of largescale administration that may no longer require individual child interviews.     

互联网上的开放大学物理教育

对互联网上的开放物理教育进行了研究.给出了网络学习系统组成、免费物理课程资源;对物理开放课程做了统计分析;将网络免费物理学习方式与其他教育模式进行对比;展望互联网物理教育未来发展趋势.     

关于爱因斯坦的若干资料

列出了有关爱因斯坦生平的一些有趣问题,包括他的学习、科学研究,以及他对教育的批评等.     

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.