Mathematics in engineering education causes many thresholds in the courses because of the demand of abstract conceptualisation. Electronics depend heavily on more or less complex mathematics. Therefore the concepts of analogue electronics are hard to learn since a great deal of students struggle with the calculations and procedures needed. A…

Learning about statistics is a lot like learning about science: the learning is more meaningful if you can actively explore. This tenth installment of "Explorations in Statistics" explores the analysis of a potential change in some physiological response. As researchers, we often express absolute change as percent change so we can…

Research over the past few decades points to ways precalculus and calculus courses can be strengthened to improve student learning in these courses. This research has informed the development of the Algebra and Precalculus Concept Readiness (APCR) and the Calculus Concept Readiness (CCR) assessments. In this article, the authors present three…

As a consequence of the increased use of data in workplace environments, there is a need to understand the demands that are placed on users to make sense of such data. In education, teachers are being increasingly expected to interpret and apply complex data about student and school performance, and, yet it is not clear that they always have the…

The organization, presentation, and results of a mock adversary hearing on a topic involving the use of simple and complex statistics is described. The use of this format as a teaching technique for mathematics and statistics classes is discussed. (DT)

Traditional elementary statistics instruction for non-majors has focused on computation. Rarely have students had an opportunity to interact with real data sets or to use questioning to drive data analysis, common activities among professional statisticians. Inclusion of data gathering and analysis into whole class and small group activities…

Considers the development of a computer program for interactive, screen-oriented problem solving. Provides theoretical background and program development to determine internal energy, heat capacity, and entropy. Lists the program written in BASIC for Apple II computers. (MVL)

Discussed are problems encountered when a gas absorption experiment with strong measurement error is used. Notes students either avoid the experiment or report it as defective. Provides ideas to make lab experiments more instructive. (MVL)

Presents a series of 13 activities to explore the mathematics of baseball. Activities examine the numerical measures of player statistics and team standings and the geometry of baseball. Discusses the use of computer spreadsheets and LOGO computer simulations to study the concepts embodied in the activities. (MDH)

The purpose of this study was to develop a program to help cultivate divergent thinking in mathematics based on open-ended problems and to investigate its effect. The participants were 398 seventh grade students attending middle schools in Seoul. A method of pre- and post-testing was used to measure mainly divergent thinking skills through…