My purpose in this paper is to present a didactic tool--a set of specially designed problems and questions for discussion--that can help making students better aware of the various aspects of the formal notion of limit of a sequence. The didactic tool will be justified using results from my own and other authors' research on students' naive or…

Reasoning with data is already pervasive in society, and its importance as a life skill is increasing. We argue that the current statistics curriculum in the United Kingdom at the secondary level does not prepare our young people adequately, and suggest ways in which it could be improved.

According to Alan Slonsom, "Mathematics without proof is like brandy without alcohol: the spirit of the subject is missing." This author relates how she became motivated to pick proof as an exciting topic to teach. It is important to distinguish between the usage of the word "proof" in everyday life and its meaning in a mathematical context.…

Students analyze a photograph to solve mathematical questions related to the images captured in the photograph.

This article describes Comer's Method, a student's discovery of an alternative approach to solving the determinant of a 3x3 matrix.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has invested in the development and dissemination of instructional tools to support teachers' incorporation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) into their classroom instruction. Math experts have developed formative assessment lessons (FALs) that teachers can incorporate throughout the year's curriculum.…

An eighth grade algebra class used graphing calculators to simulate ecosystems. One simulation introduced mathematical chaos. The activities exposed the students to nonlinear patterns and modeling. The rate-of-change investigations related the ideas of intercept and slope to the changing equilibrium. The chaotic model intrigued them and was useful…

This article describes recommendations made by participants in a large project of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), in which representatives of "partner disciplines" shared what they would like students to learn in the first two years of college mathematics. The article further suggests implications for high school mathematics.…

This article examines the effect of classroom management strategies on students' interest development in secondary school mathematics classes. Two studies using student questionnaire data (one cross-sectional, with data from 400 students; the other longitudinal, with 1900 students) are reported. Results show that students' perceptions of rule…

This article describes an activity for secondary mathematics students using digital imaging on The Geometer's Sketchpad to model polar functions of flowers. The activity presented in the appendix engages students in learning and exploring the polar coordinate system while helping them analyze a real-world situation. By completing this activity,…

This article offers an engaging application that adds meaning to the binomial theorem. (Contains 8 figures.)

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) asserts that a goal of mathematics education, in Prekindergarten through grade 12, is to develop mathematical power for "all" students, and that educational equity is the nucleus of this goal. Nevertheless, researchers have found that equity for all students in mathematics education has not…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine rural high school mathematics teachers' responses to the initial implementation of Louisiana's "Comprehensive Curriculum" during their second year of involvement in a professional development program. The curriculum changes were the culmination of an alignment between standards,…

In England and Wales, there has been a significant investment in technology to support teaching and learning in all subjects and school phases since the mid-1990s and a number of training models and approaches have been used, which include the development of online materials to support face-to-face sessions with expert teacher educator support.…

A number of studies have highlighted that anxiety, confidence and enjoyment are influential factors on students' participation in mathematics, and in particular girls' participation. This paper, based upon data collected as part of a PhD thesis, examines the effect of these influences on pupil choices within different types of secondary schools in…