Provides activities that support students as they develop their intuitive notions of graphs. Activities help students describe the relationships expressed in the graphs and make generalizations about inferences on the basis of the visual image. (ASK)

Considers various aspects of teaching and learning stemming from the integration of graphing calculator use in a semester-long college algebra course. Argues that technology use has had a positive impact on various dimensions of student learning. (Author/CCM)

Compares two groups of students in an intermediate algebra course and two groups of students in a college algebra course with regard to the use/non-use of computer algebra software in the courses. Indicates that in both courses, students using the software outperformed the students not using the software on a common final exam. (Author/ASK)

Examines students' understanding of the quantitative relationships, operations, and properties of relationships and operations that are introduced in arithmetic and beginning algebra courses. Develops alternative approaches to the teaching of structure such as the structural-to-computational model and the procedural-to-structural model. Concludes…

Examines advanced students' course taking procedures and their senior year mathematics participation. Concludes that students who took early algebra demonstrated a substantially higher participation rate in advanced mathematics in the later grades of high school than students who did not. (Contains 25 references.) (ASK)

Presents a study using a module of work based on a graphing calculator that provided an environment where students could experience some aspects of variables and begin to build an understanding of them. Graphing calculators proved to be an instrument for achieving significant improvement in student understanding, which had often proved difficult…

Interviews 53 sixth grade students individually in an attempt to discover whether wrong interpretations of the algebraic structure found in an algebraic context occurs in a purely numerical context. Concludes that students' difficulties with the algebraic structure were also found in purely numerical contexts. (Contains 27 references.) (Author/ASK)

Algebraic calculators with symbolic manipulation capabilities are tools in some classrooms for 14-19 year olds, and their use in learning and teaching mathematics is likely to increase over time. Explains the reports of government-initiated working groups that consider the implications of their use in academic mathematics examinations for…

The factor structure of three commonly used measures of mathematics anxiety was examined using a sample of 323 undergraduates in an algebra class. Six oblique factors were identified, but results did not support the existence of a single common dimension of mathematics anxiety as represented by the six factors. (SLD)

Suggests that no matter how much algebraic thinking is introduced in the early grades, and no matter how worthwhile this might be, the failure rate in algebra will continue unless the teaching of fractions and decimals is radically revamped. The proper study of fractions provides a ramp that leads students gently from whole number arithmetic up to…

Reacts to an article published in a previous issue of this journal on the effects of graphing calculators and computer algebra systems (CAS) on students' manual calculation and algebraic manipulation skills. Considers the contribution made by Jean-Baptiste Lagrange to thinking about the role of CAS in teaching algebra. (ASK)

Investigates ways in which students use signs and endow them with meaning in their very first encounter with the algebraic generalization of patterns. Provides accounts of students' emergent algebraic thinking. Uses ethnographic qualitative methodology supported by historic epistemological research. Focuses on a discussion held by a small group of…

Discusses how to define and teach algebra given the available technology, highlighting computer algebra systems (CAS), which feature multiply-linked graphical, numerical, and symbolic manipulation utilities. The article describes: today's versus yesterday's algebra; mathematics curriculum and the CAS; and use of CAS in the classroom, which can…

Presents worksheets for students to practice substituting whole numbers into fairly simple symbolic expressions. (MKR)

Describes a pilot study on the use of computer algebra at the upper secondary level. A symbolic calculator was introduced in a pre-examination class studying for advanced pre-university mathematics. Focuses on the identification of obstacles that students encounter while using computer algebra with the theoretical framework of Realistic…