This short note discusses how the optimality conditions for minimizing a multivariate function subject to equality constraints have been covered in some undergraduate Calculus courses. In particular, we will focus on the most common optimization problems in Calculus of several variables: the 2 and 3-dimensional cases. So, along with sufficient…

Students exit calculus with understandings of change that want for conceptual depth and are disconnected from real-world contexts. In this paper, we present a problem that will develop their skills in using "change" concepts for learning differential equations through modelling. The problem comes from a qualitative study of how STEM…

Several studies indicate that exploring mathematical ideas by using more than one approach to prove the same statement is an important matter in mathematics education. In this work, we have collected a few different methods of proving the multinomial theorem. The goal is to help further the understanding of this theorem for those who may not be…

Calculus has long been known as a "gateway course" to STEM fields in postsecondary education. To moderate this gatekeeping effect, Montclair State University researchers developed a peer-led, inquiry-based instructional support (IBIS) to run parallel to Calculus classes. The design of the IBIS model was informed by an instructional…

The natural exponential and logarithm are typically introduced to undergraduate engineering students in a calculus course using the notion of limits. We here present an approach to introduce the natural exponential/logarithm through a novel interpretation of derivatives. This approach does not rely on limits, allowing an early and intuitive…

Differential equations are an important mathematical concept used to model processes in many disciplines. However, the literature shows that students experience many difficulties when studying this topic. We investigate the effect of using context while teaching differential equations on engineering students' ability to construct and interpret…

During the pandemic and lockdown situations of the last few years, we transitioned to online, physical, and hybrid education approaches at various times. We had difficulty teaching multiple calculus and analytical geometry units online. In light of the current situation, a graphical user interface (GUI) teaching tool has been developed to teach…

The purpose of this study is to investigate how students interpret expressions from calculus statements in the graphical register. To this end, I conducted 150-minute clinical interviews with 13 undergraduate mathematics students who had completed at least one calculus course. In the interviews, students evaluated six calculus statements for…

Our study explores teaching practices that aim to promote students' learning to define an analytical object. A Calculus II instructor conducted a teaching experiment (TE) in which 11 students reinvented a formal definition of a limit over five class periods with the instructor's guidance. During the TE, the instructor's teaching practices were…

In this paper we focus on Norwegian first-year engineering students' interpretations of differentials and definite integrals. Through interviews with 15 engineering students, we investigated how the students interpreted the different symbols involved in the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus (FTC), as displayed in the textbook used in their calculus…

This study explores calculus students' opportunities to learn the concepts of integral by examining one mathematician's videotaped lessons and the textbook. The results show that both lessons and textbook introduced important cognitive resources very briefly and focused on procedures and techniques of integration. Implications to these results…

In this study, I present how eight U.S. college calculus instructors with different patterns of inquiry practices used instructional situations to frame instructional tasks for introducing derivatives graphically to students. During four interviews, the instructors proposed up to eight tasks for introducing derivatives physically, graphically,…

This article provides conceptual ideas, data, and exercises, for integrating original sources of recent, state of the art, world-class life science research in the undergraduate mathematics curriculum and classroom. To this end, this article shows how one of the main goals of calculus in the life sciences, fitting parameters to data and assessing…

Creativity is crucial for doing mathematics, yet many United States students may not have opportunities to experience it in their courses. Moreover, the literature base on views of mathematical creativity lacks the student perspective. To explore the connections between views of and feeling creative, we examine differences in views of creativity…

The systematic design and analysis of tasks which can be implemented in first-year university courses and point to advanced inner- and extra-mathematically rich issues and their rationales is an open problem in the didactics of mathematics in higher education. Potentials of such tasks can be seen with regard to learning processes in the first year…