QR decomposition is widely used for solving the least squares problem. However, existing materials about it may be too abstract for non-mathematicians, especially STEM students, and/or require serious background in linear algebra. The paper describes theoretical background and examples of GNU Octave compatible MATLAB scripts that give relatively…

This article aims to problematize the role of programming in mathematics education. Problematizing involves acknowledging a deeper complexity in the understanding of programming than originally perceived and questioning its assumed value in mathematics education. This approach entails identifying its underlying paradigmatic assumptions in relation…

This study analyzes the mathematical knowledge to teach early algebra exhibited by pre-service early childhood education teachers, from the perspective of the Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching (MKT) model. The research adopts a mixed exploratory-descriptive methodological approach, based on the application of the MKT-early algebra questionnaire…

Developing both conceptual and procedural knowledge is important for students' mathematics competence. This study examined whether U.S. Grade 9 general education mathematics teachers' self-reported use of concept-focused instruction (CFI) and procedure-focused instruction (PFI) were associated differently with ninth graders' algebra achievement…

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…

Using a mixed methods approach, we explore a relationship between students' graph reasoning and graph selection via a fully online assessment. Our population includes 673 students enrolled in college algebra, an introductory undergraduate mathematics course, across four U.S. postsecondary institutions. The assessment is accessible on computers,…

The Building Painted Cubes Task is a groupworthy algebraic task. Students build cubes using linking unit cubes, search for algebraic patterns, and report findings on posters. This task can create spaces for students to see themselves as doers of mathematics.

Reversibility thinking carried out mentally in mathematical operations has an important role in the process of understanding concepts as it involves developing a thinking process from beginning to end and from end to beginning. This qualitative research aims to describe students' reversible thinking processes in solving algebra problems,…

We describe how an instructor integrated embodiment to teach the Fundamental Homomorphism Theorem (FHT) and preliminary concepts in an undergraduate abstract algebra course. The instructor's use of embodiment reduced levels of abstraction for formal definitions, theorems, and proofs. The instructor's simultaneous use of various forms of embodiment…

This work explores the complex cognitive processes students engage in when addressing contextual tasks requiring linear and exponential models. Grounded within Piagetian constructivism and the Knowledge in Pieces (KiP) epistemological perspective (diSessa, 1993, 2018), this empirical study in a clinical setting develops a Microgenetic Learning…

Despite the prominence of analogies in mathematics, little attention has been given to exploring students' processes of analogical reasoning, and even less research exists on revealing how students might be empowered to independently and productively reason by analogy to establish new (to them) mathematics. I argue that the lack of a cohesive…

Gestures are one of the ways in which mathematical cognition is embodied and have been elevated as a potentially important semiotic device in the teaching of mathematics. As such, a better understanding of gestures used during mathematics instruction (including frequency of use, types of gestures, how they are used, and the possible relationship…

Mathematics is a collection of cognitive products that have unique characteristics from other scientific disciplines. As cognitive products, mathematics, and thought processes are two things that cannot be separated. Although in the literature there have been many approaches proposed to support the analysis of students' thinking processes, not…

In this article, the authors describe an algebra 2 class activity, called the Exponent Maze, that had students practice many mathematics problems, display their creativity, and work together collaboratively by creating their own mazes. The authors discuss how they introduced the activity, what the students created, and how creating mazes can be…

This paper introduces the basic knowledge of integral factors of first-order ordinary differential equations and Lie symmetry analysis. It then discusses the principle of constructing an integral factor of the first-order ordinary differential equation by the Lie symmetric method. Finally, it presents some examples to show the process of…