Using expository text and examples available in 10 college textbooks we identify two conceptions of angles, trigonometric functions, and inverse trigonometric functions that rely on either a static or a dynamic definition of angle. Although the textbooks favor a conception of trigonometric functions that is based on a dynamic conception of angle,…

Increasingly, computer-based learning systems are used by educators to facilitate learning. Evaluations of several math learning systems show that they result in significant student learning improvements. Feedback provision is one of the key features in math learning systems that contribute to its success. We have recently been uncovering feedback…

This study investigated the tutoring practices of mathematics tutors working in one university tutoring center and the corresponding rationale exhibited by the mathematics tutors. This study illustrates how the tutoring practices of mathematics tutors align with the Eight Mathematics Teaching Practices outlined in NCTM's recent publication…

The concept of fractions is perceived as one of the most difficult areas in school mathematics to learn and teach. The most frequently mentioned factors contributing to the complexity is fractions having five interrelated constructs: part-whole, ratio, operator, quotient, and measure. In this study, we used this framework to investigate the…

Many resources have been created with the aim of helping children and adults overcome difficulties with mathematics and to develop or improve their numeracy. However, these are only used once the individual has decided to act -- to do something to improve their mathematics and numeracy. Unfortunately, someone who knows that they need to improve…

In 2012, I completed my doctoral study which was positioned in a hermeneutic phenomenological theoretical framework within the interpretive social science mode of inquiry. Through the phenomenological component, I attempted to understand the experiences of secondary school immigrant students in their mathematics classrooms as the phenomena, while…

In this commentary on the ZDM special issue: "Cognitive neuroscience and mathematics learning--revisited after 5 years," we explore the progress that has been made since ZDM published a similar special issue in 2010. We consider the extent to which future frontiers and methodological concerns raised in the commentary on the 2010 issue by…

In this article I consider what critical mathematics education could mean for different groups of students. Much discussion and research has addressed students at social risk. My point, however, is that critical mathematics education concerns other groups as well: for example, students in comfortable positions, blind students, elderly students,…

Three years ago our mathematics department rearranged the topics in second and third semester calculus, moving multivariable calculus to the second semester and series to the third semester. This paper describes the new arrangement of topics, and how it could be adapted to calculus curricula at different schools. It also explains the benefits we…

"Media Clips" appears in every issue of "Mathematics Teacher," offering readers contemporary, authentic applications of quantitative reasoning based on print or electronic media. Based on "In All the Light We Cannot See" (2014), by Anthony Doerr, this article provides a brief trigonometry problem that was solved by…

Reversibility of concepts, a key aspect of mathematical development, is often problematic for learners. In this theoretical paper, we present a typology we have developed for categorizing the different reverse concepts that can be related to a particular initial concept and explicate the relationship among these different reverse concepts. We…

This article is a commentary on the mathematical working space (MWS) approach and draws on the articles contained in this "ZDM" issue. The article is divided into three parts. In the first part I discuss the place of the MWS approach among the French theories of didactique des mathématiques. In the second part I outline what I think are…

Mathematical working space (MWS) is a model that is used in research in mathematics education, particularly in the field of geometry. Some MWS elements are independent of the field while other elements must be adapted to the field in question. In this paper, we develop the MWS model for the field of analysis with an identification of paradigms. We…

The architecture of nature can be seen at play in a tree: no two are alike. The Pythagoras' tree behaves just as a "tree" in that the root plus the same movement repeated over and over again grows from a seed, to a plant, to a tree. In human life, this movement is termed cell division. With triples, this movement is a geometrical and…

A square chiliagonal number is a number which is simultaneously a chiliagonal number and a perfect square (just as the well-known square triangular number is both triangular and square). In this work, we determine which of the chiliagonal numbers are perfect squares and provide the indices of the corresponding chiliagonal numbers and square…