The challenges experienced by schools as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic led to numerous changes and forced teachers to rethink the way teachers use technology, both to communicate with students and to support their mathematics learning. To illustrate these changes in curriculum, teaching, and assessment, the author uses the topic of rational…

Patterns are a ubiquitous phenomenon. They exist in nature's plant species emerging as a complete order from truncated matter. Patterns are also present in the fine arts where the aesthetic properties of form exist and conjugate through paintings and sculptures. Mathematical patterns, the focus of this position paper, dominate financial scenarios,…

Have you ever considered how technology could facilitate reasoning and sense making of systems of linear inequalities? In this article, the authors share how to use Google® Maps® and Desmos to achieve this and provide students with opportunities to access mathematics as they build a more formalized understanding. Using an inquiry-based approach,…

Activities for Students appears five times each year in Mathematics Teacher, promoting student-centered activities that teachers can adapt for use in their own classroom. In the course of the activities presented here, students will "look for and make use of structure" by observing algebraic patterns in the power rule and "use…

Like many commodities, the price of gasoline continues to rise, and these price changes are readily observed in gas stations' signage. Moreover, algebraic methods are well suited to model price change and answer the student's question. Over the course of one ninety-minute block or two forty-five-minute classes, students build functions…

The paper uses digital fabrication as a learning environment to demonstrate the importance of conceptual understanding of one-variable inequalities. These inequalities are hidden within two-variable inequalities used to construct geometric shapes the borders of which are the graphs of basic functions from the secondary mathematics curriculum. As…

For many the phrase "teaching math online" evokes a vision of teaching and learning that is not based in physical classrooms. Perhaps teachers and students are even interacting asynchronously. In math classrooms in the United States, the increasing availability of devices (e.g. laptops, Chromebooks™, smartphones, and tablets) and…

An iPad® can be used to teach students to graph parabolas with ease and grasp vocabulary quickly. Parabolas come to life for students in this easily implemented activity described in this article. Teachers can use this tool in a fun and interactive way to not only address these graphing and vocabulary concepts but also introduce and explore…

Has technology revolutionised the mathematics classroom, or is it still a device waiting to be exploited for the benefit of the learner? There are applets that will enable the user to solve complex equations at the push of a button. So, does this jeopardise other methods, make other methods redundant, or even diminish other methods in the mind of…

Dynamic/interactive graphing applets can be used to supplement standard computer algebra systems such as Maple, Mathematica, Derive, or TI calculators, in courses such as Calculus, Differential Equations, and Dynamical Systems. The addition of this type of software can lead to discovery learning, with students developing their own conjectures, and…

In Part Three, the author reviews the basic ideas presented in Parts One and Two while arguing why the traditional equation-solving developmental algebra curricula is not a good choice for implementing neural response strategies presented in the first two parts. He continues by showing that the developmental algebra student audience is simply…

It seems rather surprising that any given polynomial p(x) with nonnegative integer coefficients can be determined by just the two values p(1) and p(a), where a is any integer greater than p(1). This result has become known as the "perplexing polynomial puzzle." Here, we address the natural question of what might be required to determine a…

The long-running debate over whether students should be allowed to wield calculators during mathematics exams may soon seem quaint. The latest dilemma facing professors is whether to let students turn to a Web site called WolframAlpha, which not only solves complex math problems, but also can spell out the steps leading to those solutions. In…

This article shares some personal reflections on several years of integrating educational technology into mathematics courses while retaining the direct interaction strengths of the traditional classroom.

Graphing bivariate data in a scatter plot and drawing an approximate line of best fit for the data have become commonly recommended activities for middle school and high school students. The graphing calculator has provided a mechanism for students both to approximate a best-fit line and to calculate the best-fit line using a built-in option. Two…