# All Questions

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Metacognition seems pretty universally positive. I'm wary of viewing it as such. Aside from the obvious criticisms like "you can't learn to ride a bicycle by thinking about and writing a 200 page ...
158 views

### Research on the use of outlined / structured proofs in instruction

Has there been any research into comparing the effectiveness of using "structured proofs" or "outlined proofs" in higher level mathematics education, compared to traditional "prose" proofs? For the ...
314 views

### Was math education following a western trend?

After some research on the recent history of math education in the U.S., from the new math movement to the beginning of the 21st century, I understood that the historic flow of the math education ...
257 views

### Exercises to go with Simon's “Representations of finite and compact groups”

I am teaching an independent-reading course from Simon's "Representations of finite and compact groups". I chose this book based on fond memories from a previous reading course in which I had ...
333 views

### Shanghai math — what is it, and how good is it?

Some schools in the UK are adopting English translations of a grade school math textbook from Shanghai. The book appears to be designed to work with a specific teaching approach, the only specifics ...
302 views

### Books on meta-cognition that would be relevant for those involved in mathematics?

In 1992 Schoenfeld wrote an excellent "review" of (among other things) metacognition as it applies to mathematics: whether from the perspective of a student, or a teacher. Metacognition, as quoted ...
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### toys/manipulatives for exploring graph theory

I was talking recently with my daughters about non-planar graphs, like $K_{3,3}$, $K_5$, and the 7 bridges of Königsberg. They got pretty interested in it, and seemed to catch on to the core ideas. ...
135 views

### tutorial active learning

This is a question I asked on [Academia.se]. It did not get an answer, so I am re-posting it here. In the country where I live, university students studying mathematics usually attend lectures, ...
449 views

### Use of Lockhart's *Measurement* in a course?

I greatly admire Paul Lockhart's Measurement (Harvard Press). Many of you know him through A Mathematician's Lament. One review of Measurement said, “Here Lockhart offers the positive side of the ...
394 views

### What is known about discrimination and difficulty in test questions?

I am interested in looking at any design resources or "guiding principles" on the distribution of different types of question difficulties on evaluative examinations. We can use Item Response Theory ...
83 views

### Research into the mathematical education of adults with no prior formal mathematical experience

I am curious about the experiences of people who had no formal mathematical training in their youth, but learned mathematics as adults. I imagine that there are a fair number of people in the US who ...
109 views

### Studies into the effects of having fewer classes per term

Have there been any studies done into the effect of having fewer classes per term on a student's comprehension of their mathematics course material? Also are there any examples of schools that have ...
108 views

### Literature on student understanding of assumptions

In a discussion with a physics lecturer he mentioned that one major area where students fail is understanding assumptions - for example, if we are interested in two objects hitting each other and then ...
95 views

### How can instructors bridge the gap between an engineering course in stochastic systems and a more rigorous Stochastic Processes course?

Systems and electrical engineering graduate students often take a course on stochastic systems (a.k.a. "Probabilistic Systems Analysis"). A typical course will present such topics as multivariable ...
122 views

### Good Source for German Tank Problem

I would like to teach the German Tank Problem to bright students with little prerequisites. They are 16 year old high school students with a lot of maths competition experience, but no prior knowledge ...
178 views

### Are there standard questions for testing how an instructor grades calculus?

My institution is now in the process of "standardizing" our calculus classes. One issue we have is the variation among instructors in grading problems. I am interested if there are ways to objectively ...
320 views

### The importance of note taking in mathematics

I'm asking this question right now due to the fact that a lower back problem has made it very difficult for me to do much but lie down for large sections of the day when it flares up, and the fact ...
543 views

### Can Compare and Contrast be used in Mathematics Teaching and Research?

I happen to be a fan of the "theme and variations" approach to problem solving. In certain cases, a certain question had drawn enough to attention to generate dozens of solutions. Ways to Prove the ...
332 views

### “Extension Mathematics” by Tony Gardiner

I would like to know if anybody has experience with the British textbook series Extension Mathematics in three volumes, by Tony Gardiner. It claims to be "the first structured KS3/S1-S2 programme for ...
189 views

### Moore method projective geometry

Has anyone written a set of Moore method notes for synthetic projective geometry? It seems like it would be well-suited, but I haven't been able to find any such thing on the Internet.
107 views

### 3-D printing of formulas encoded in LaTex for the visually impaired?

There is software available on the Net for 3-D printing of math expressions encoded in LaTex. What such technology is available off-the-shelf for the visually impaired to learn mathematics? And, ...
78 views

### Literature on skill transfer

Motivated by this other question I'm interested in getting to know the literature on mathematics skills transfer within itself. All I know is what I've read in David Perkins's book "Knowledge as ...
276 views

### What else we miss?

Context: Some time ago there was a post on a brief study conducted by Alexis Wiggins (she was shadowing two students for two days), you can find it here, which got quite an attention. One interesting ...
285 views

### Guided Lecture Notes for Calculus

Last semester I taught Linear Algebra using the standard textbook of Lay. Online one can find nice "class handouts" that serve very well as lecture notes for students to follow along with during class....
199 views

### Effective use of Maple T.A

I am considering using Maple T.A. as a tool for formative assessment (and possibly at some stage, summative assessment) for courses such as calculus and linear algebra. What are your experiences and ...
149 views

### Which calculus textbook is aligned the most with the CollegeBoard course description?

The CollegeBoard website lists many AP calculus BC references. But it also mentions that "The materials on this List range in alignment from 59% to 100%." So, which of them is aligned the most with ...
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### Where can I find a comparison of mathematical subjects taught for primary and secondary school around the world?

I have been searching this for a long time, but most of what I find spends more time on cultural aspects and what is expected from the teacher, etc. Perhaps this is really trivial to find, but I am ...
82 views

### Literature on teaching and learning probability

In an earlier question, the book Exploring Probability in School (2005) (Link) was mentioned. It gives an overview of the research on the teaching and learning of probability up to that point. Does ...
48 views

### Effectiveness of audio / video feedback

Hattie & Timperley (2007) mention a meta-analysis about video or audio feedback with a mean effective size of .64 (Table 2 on page 84). They state that this analysis was part of the meta-analysis ...
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### Teaching a Pre-Calculus Course using Basic Mathematics by Serge Lang

I am considering using Basic Mathematics by Serge Lang as the primary text for my High School Pre-Calculus course. My students have all spent a year working through the first six books of Euclid and ...
245 views

### Examples of multiple induction

It is easy to find/construct cases that can be proven by nested induction, i.e., some variation of the theme to prove the statement $P(m, n)$ you prove $P(1, n)$ by induction as a base case for $m$, ...
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I hope this is a good place to ask about this. My institution uses WebAssign for homework in many classes. A concern has come up about being compliant with ADA. From a page on the WebAssign site, it ...
260 views

### Importance of “Calculus->Analysis Transition Books”?

E.S.E. advisers, I am a college sophomore with a major in mathematics and an aspiring mathematician in the fields of computation theory and cryptography. I am always curious about the importance of "...
66 views

### Support modelling cycle through differentiated means

I plan to work with my students on solving real-world problems through modelling them. Now it is my idea to follow the modelling cycle below. The idea is to find with the help of two values that have ...
181 views

### Tablet whiteboard app w e-pencil

(I've generalized the original question as @BrendanW.Sullivan suggests.) I would appreciate recommendations for a whiteboard app for a tablet using an e-pencil. For me: an iPad, using an Apple pencil....
268 views

### What is the controversial 8th grade algebra mentioned on this answer?

An answer on this site mentions that it would be more appropriate to criticize Efforts to force kids to take algebra at lower and lower ages, such as attempts in California to make all kids take ...
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### Mathematical undergraduate education in Syria

I'd like to learn some things about undergraduate mathematical education in Syria EDIT: In particular I'm interested in students 15-16 years old. What are the main differences from the European ...
366 views

### What books properly address the properties of $a^b$?

Many students think $\sqrt{a} \sqrt{b}=\sqrt{a\ b}$ $\sqrt{a^2}=a$ $\frac{1}{\sqrt{a}}=\sqrt{\frac{1}{a}}$ but none of the above are true when (a) and (b) are negative. To avoid such problems, ...
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### Long-form, multi-step, skills-integrating applied mathematics problems in calculus I, II, III

When recently teaching Calculus II to college students, I instructed my students to read and be ready to work through the first 8 or so questions of James Walsh's climate modeling differential ...
128 views

### Flow diagrams and summarizing strategies in proof-computation courses: good or bad for learning? Unsuitable for Inquiry-based learning?

For concreteness lets keep our discussion to calculus courses where there is a balance of proof and computations (computing limits but also doing epsilon-delta proofs) I can understand that in more ...
159 views

### Learning math historically

What is meant by learning math historically (NOT learning math history only, but learning math with a historical development perspective)? I've seen some sources that to learn a math topic X, you need ...
154 views

I would like to make math videos in the manner of this YouTube video. The specific features which I like in this video are: the interactive freestyle drawing (see the beginning of the video) the way ...
118 views

### Questions similar to Wason Selection Task

The Wason Selection Task (described by Pete Clark here) is a great problem for getting students to grapple with all of the intricacies of logical implication. I will be teaching a discrete ...
165 views

### Adding one to numbers bigger than ten

If someone asks you Tell me the next number (add one) after the number one million two hundred thirty-one thousand ninety-nine, do you known if it is a common error that the first number that ...
127 views

### Compare depth and scope of math syllabus between Malaysia's STPM, Gao Kao and A level

Are the math syllabi of these three exams comparable? Which syllabus' scope is wider and deeper? Which helps students to be better prepared for math in undergraduate level? I believe that A level is ...
68 views

### How to control for numerical factor in mathematics education research?

I am going to carry out a small scale action research on ratio problems. I would ask the same questions in different ways and see whether wordings would affect students' performance. However, past ...
77 views

### Appropriate journals for case study article about teaching math to learning-disabled student

Many scholarly articles have been written about the relationship between low working memory and math learning difficulties. There's not much written about what to do about it. I would like to write ...
171 views

### Teaching an alternate definition for a compactness via the induction principle

In this post on Reddit, a user proposes an alternate definition of compactness, as an "induction principle": A topological space $X$ is compact iff given a statement $P$ whose truth or falsity ...