This article argues that developing a team-based approach to teaching and learning provides the basis for building commitment and continuous professional development in teaching practice among staff in higher education. A team approach that is grounded in practice leads to open communication and opportunities for formal and informal professional…

This paper reports the results of an exploratory study of the perceptions of and approaches to mathematical proof of undergraduates enrolled in lecture-based and problem-based "transition to proof" courses. While the students in the lecture-based course demonstrated conceptions of proof that reflect those reported in the research literature as…

This is the second of two papers that propose an expanded and enriched view of arithmetic problem solving by stressing the need to provide learning activities that include problems of varying structures. The first paper included a framework for the enhancement of text-based problems. This second paper proposes a scheme for the development of…

One of the major issues related to teaching an introductory programming course is the excessive amount of time spent on the language's syntax, which leaves little time for developing skills in program design and solution creativity. The wide variation in the students' backgrounds, coupled with the traditional classroom (one size-fits-all) teaching…

This investigation describes the way in which a case study participant (aged 7) represented, posed and solved problems in a technology game-based environment. The out-of-school problem-solving context placed numeracy demands on the participant that were more complex and sophisticated than the type of mathematics experiences he encountered in…

The paper examines the role of critical thinking in an experience-based model of social work education. Within this model, the development of a critical approach to our own understanding of, as well as to existing knowledge about, the world is fundamental for students and educators alike. Critical thinking is defined as more than a rational,…

In Fall 2004, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) piloted a modeling-based approach to college algebra. This paper describes the course and an assessment that was conducted to determine the effect of this approach on student achievement in comparison to a traditional approach to college algebra. The results show that compared with their…

Every year in the United States, the federal government, insurance companies and automobile manufacturers wreck hundreds of cars for safety-testing purposes. All this crashing comes in an effort to rate vehicular safety for the public. Inspired by numerous movies with car chases, dramatic wrecks and television commercials showing car safety tests,…

This paper is the result of my inquiry into the nature of my constructivist pedagogy in the context of a postgraduate course that focused on theoretical and practical dimensions of mentoring at a major university in the north of Israel. Drawing on four critical incidents in my university teaching, I address the question: What happens when you…

This article describes my efforts to improve student skills in solving unstructured problems in a junior-level undergraduate business course by employing a problem-based learning (PBL) design. A rationale for adopting a PBL approach for this course is articulated. A 7-step problem-solving model is then presented. The course's design is described,…

The phrase "death by PowerPoint" was not born in the offices of Microsoft's competitors; it came straight from the hearts of victimized meeting attendees. Microsoft estimates that at least 30 million PowerPoint presentations are made daily, with many rightfully warranting death verdict assessment. Death sentences often result from a "construction…

This article describes an integrated activity that can teach students important lessons in recycling, manufacturing, measurement, art, and ecology, while at the same time putting old crayons to good use. The activity involved organizing fourth-grade students into a manufacturing company that would melt old crayons into molds to form a new product…

This paper investigates the learning behaviour, learning environment and learning outcomes of Hong Kong Chinese students enrolled on an Australian university's Bachelor of Business degree course taught by visiting Australian lecturers in Hong Kong. The Chinese students are task-focused and passive learners. They do not demonstrate creative…

This note discusses the boundary in the frequency--amplitude plane for boundedness of solutions to the forced spring Duffing type equation. For fixed initial conditions and fixed parameter [epsilon] results are reported of a systematic numerical investigation on the global stability of solutions to the initial value problem as the parameters F and…

In the fall of 2003, the author conducted research on the student teaching process in Japan. The basis for most of the lessons observed was rich mathematics problems. Upon returning to the US, the author used one such problem while teaching an algebra 2 class. This article introduces that problem, which gives rise to both linear and quadratic…