Analogy has played an important role in developing modern mathematics. However, it is unclear to what extent students are granted opportunities to productively reason by analogy. This article proposes a set of lessons for introducing topics in ring theory that allow students to engage with the process of reasoning by analogy while exploring new…

Inverse and injective functions are topics in most college algebra courses. Yet, current materials and course structures may not afford students' conceptual understanding of these important ideas. We describe how students' work with digital activities, "techtivities," linking two different looking graphs that represent relationships…

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) promotes creating resources that build procedural fluency from conceptual understanding through intentionally sequenced tasks that draw on students' prior knowledge and move from simple, concrete representations to more complex and abstract representations (Boston et al., 2017). Liljedahl…

Making sense of algebraic expressions in context is multifaceted and extends beyond representing real-world situations using algebra. As part of Project MathTalk, the authors created videos that feature a pair of Grade 9 algebra 1 students coming to understand algebraic expressions in context. The students found three aspects of making sense of…

Incorporating open-ended real-world tasks enhances students' access to mathematical and real-life knowledge and maximizes learning experiences. This article examines how a secondary mathematics teacher used an open-ended problem on distributing pay raises to teach mathematical concepts and fairness to students. The teacher's actions exemplify…

Seeds of Algebraic Thinking comes from the Knowledge in Pieces (KiP) perspective of learning. KiP is a systems approach to learning that stems from the constructivist idea that people learn by building on prior knowledge. As people experience the world, they acquire small, sub-conceptual knowledge elements. When people engage in a particular…

Basis vectors e[subscript alpha] play a useful role in special and general relativity. In particular they allow an expansion of the vectorial spacetime interval dl along infinitesimal curvilinear coordinate differences dl = e[subscript alpha]d[Xi][superscript alpha]: (thus the definition e[subscript alpha] = dl/d[Xi][superscript alpha]). In this…

In this note we describe the mathematics that emerges from the construction of an origami box. We first construct a simple origami box from two rectangular sheets and then discuss some of the mathematical questions that arise in the context of algebra, geometry and calculus.

Owing to the presence of the Coriolis effect, the rotation of Earth has a multitude of surprising consequences that make the mechanics of the atmosphere or the oceans different from that of a fluid in a container. Since the Coriolis effect also captures the imagination of screenwriters, contributing to the continual exposure of students to bogus…

LEGO® stop-motion animations were developed to engage first-year university students in the topics of matrices, vectors, linear geometry and linear transformations. LEGO® provided a versatile medium through which a wide range of concrete and abstract concepts could be physically demonstrated in both two and three dimensions. It was also familiar…

Nonlinear equations are usually solved numerically. However, approximated analytical solutions of nonlinear equations are useful as an initial iteration point for numerical methods. Furthermore, these analytical approximations are sometimes quite close to the actual root. In order to teach at undergraduate level how to perform this kind of…

Vectors have important applications both within and outside mathematics, but the concept of vectors is often taught to students in a less-than-engaging way, leading to students feeling inadequate and frustrated. This article describes the use of a mathematical microworld, "Driving with Vectors," to explore vectors using equitable…

In this paper, we focus on two particularly problematic concepts in teaching mathematics: the complex unit i and angles. These concepts are naturally linked via De Moivre's theorem but are independently misused in numerous contexts. We present definitions, notations, and ways of speaking about these terms from mathematics education that are not…

Many mathematics teachers and students are familiar with the typical "box problem." In this type of problem, one takes a rectangular (or a square) sheet of paper and cuts out four squares from the four corners of the sheet and then folds the four strips up to form a box. Math problems like this are seen in middle school, high school,…

Students enrolled in introductory math courses, such as college algebra, deserve to do more than find answers and fix mistakes. We present one interactive digital activity, the Cannon Man "Techtivity," which we developed to provide opportunities for students to develop an understanding of function, beyond just applying a rule, such as…