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In this note we discuss how a modular triangular origami gift box can be made with six rectangular sheets of printing paper. We also derive a formula for the volume of the box based on high school geometry and algebra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this note we describe the mathematics that emerges from the construction of an origami box. We first construct a simple origami box from two rectangular sheets and then discuss some of the mathematical questions that arise in the context of algebra, geometry and calculus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two groups of mathematics faculty, one from a four-year college and one from a two-year college, redesigned their respective introductory college mathematics courses following presentation of observational data regarding how faculty had been teaching the courses. This presentation emphasised how infrequently faculty teaching introductory college mathematics employed recommended pedagogical practices. This work was part of a multi-year federal grant project designed to increase the numbers of underrepresented students majoring in STEM disciplines. While the two teams developed very different redesigned course activities, in both instances the primary motivation for initiating the work was the information provided to faculty in a professional development workshop regarding how they had previously been observed teaching the mathematics content and how infrequently they utilised the pedagogical practices recommended by STEM education experts. The paper also highlights faculty resistance to curricular reform and enumerates some ways of addressing this resistance. The paper also discusses why faculty from two-year and four-year institutions resisted working together on course redesign and provides recommendations for future efforts addressing course redesign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to describe the mathematics that emanates from the construction of an origami box. We first construct a simple origami box from a rectangular sheet and then discuss some of the mathematical questions that arise in the context of geometry and algebra. The activity can be used as a context for illustrating how algebra and geometry, like other branches of mathematics, are interrelated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we introduce a technology-enhanced pedagogical sequence for supporting lower secondary school students' sense-making of the concept of volume in a non-procedural and non-formula-driven way. Specifically, we illustrate a novel approach of using dynamic geometric environment (DGE) to introduce the meaning of volume and then deriving the volume of a hemisphere with minimal algebra but simple trigonometry. This method aims to support students' geometrical reasoning through comparing the volume of different three-dimensional shapes and analysing their cross sections two-dimensionally, thus drawing on the concept of area. We highlight the affordances of the designed DGE sketches for fostering a dynamic conception of volume. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this note is to describe the mathematics that emanates from the construction of an origami box. We first construct a simple origami box from two rectangular sheets and then discuss some of the mathematical questions that arise in the context of geometry and algebra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the relationships between teachers' subject matter preparation and experience in teaching and their performance on an instrument measuring mathematical knowledge for teaching Algebra 1. We administered the same instrument to two different samples of teachers−high school practicing teachers and community college faculty − who teach the same algebra content in different levels of institutions, and we compared the performance of the two different samples and the relationships between the measured knowledge and their educational and teaching background across the samples. The comparison suggested that the community college faculty possess a higher level of mathematical knowledge for teaching Algebra 1 than high school teachers. The subsequent analyses using the Multiple Indicator Multiple Causes (MIMIC) models based on our hypothesis on the factors contributing to the differences in the knowledge between the two teacher samples suggest that experience teaching advanced algebra courses has positive effects on the mathematical knowledge for teaching Algebra 1 in both groups. Highlighting the positive effect of algebra-based teaching experience on test performance, we discuss the implications of the impact of subject specific experience in teaching on teachers' mathematical content knowledge for teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has highlighted the role of functional relationships in introducing elementary school students to algebraic thinking. This functional approach is here considered to study essential components of algebraic thinking such as generalization and its representation, as well as the strategies used by students and their connection with generalization. This paper jointly describes the strategies and representations of generalization used by a group of 33 sixth-year elementary school students, with no former algebraic training, in two generalization tasks involving a functional relationship. The strategies applied by the students differed depending on whether they were working on specific or general cases. To answer questions on near specific cases they resorted to counting or additive operational strategies. As higher values or indeterminate quantities were considered, the strategies diversified. The correspondence strategy was the most used and the common approach when students generalized. Students were able to generalize verbally as well as symbolically and varied their strategies flexibly when changing from specific to general cases, showing a clear preference for a functional approach in the latter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on themes that arose in an investigation of university lecturers' views on the teaching of linear algebra. This focus on themes was the initial part of a study concentrating on four areas: What is important to teach in a first course in linear algebra? Are there teaching methods which are particularly suited for such a course? Are there tools that should/should not be used; and do the answers to these questions vary according to the degree (Engineering or Mathematics) the students follow? Questionnaire data was coded using thematic analysis which generated 11 themes related to the four questions above. The Results section presents the themes. The Discussion section considers the themes as a whole; splits – dualities – in teaching linear algebra; students' challenges with abstraction; aspects of doing mathematics; and pedagogical issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rules of indices, e.g. , are a particularly important part of elementary algebra. This paper reports results from a textbook analysis which examined how the shift from integer to rational exponents in the rules of indices is discussed in school textbooks. The analysis also considered related issues, such as notation and the introduction of complex numbers. A selection of popular textbooks from the period 1800–2000 was examined and the nature of the justification given for the extension of meaning to rational indices considered. In both the definition and computational rules, when extending the domain of n in to rational numbers the (potential) contraction of the domain of a to positive numbers was often quietly ignored. A wide variety of approaches are used in choosing what is to be a definition, what is to follow, and how this is justified. The difference between computational rules for practical algebraic manipulation and a formal definition was often blurred. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research suggests that there are two major reasons for the low numbers taking Higher Level1mathematics in Ireland: namely, ineffective teaching and a subsequent lack of student interest in the subject. Traditional styles of teaching make it difficult for students to take an interest in a confusing topic in which they can see no immediate relevance. This is particularly true regarding the topic of algebra and its teaching in school. This paper describes a pedagogical framework designed by the authors for the effective teaching of algebra at lower secondary level in Irish schools that engages students, and promotes interest in the domain. This framework has provided the basis for the design and development of a teaching intervention that has been piloted in Irish schools. In this paper the authors focus on the design of the pedagogical framework and its use to develop classroom materials for a school-based intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we highlight examples from school mathematics in which invariance did not receive the attention it deserves. We describe how problems related to invariance stimulated the interest of both teachers and students. In school mathematics, invariance is of particular relevance in teaching and learning geometry. When permitted change leaves some relationships or properties invariant, these properties prove to be inherently interesting to teachers and students. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper contains a discussion of how the concept of critical aspects and the principle of compositionality can provide a powerful tool to analyse and understand the communications that occur in the classroom. It is grounded in data collected in a longitudinal study. The content chosen is algebra. It is argued that the critical aspects and the principle of compositionality should be considered as a methodological principle that describes how communication in the classroom should be designed. Here, I present the power of using variation theory whose main purpose is to generate an understanding of critical aspects and compositionality in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polygons are an important topic in geometry. We propose and analyse activities for the exploration of their properties, with extensive usage of a dynamical geometry system. They are based on the analysis of monuments, connecting students' cultural backgrounds with their mathematical learning. Moreover, two opposite directions for work are presented: an analytic way beginning from the monument and exploring its geometric features, and a more synthetic way, using the output of the analysis to build a model with the software. We show how these STEAM activities, based on existing monuments of various shapes, enhance the 4 C's of twenty-first century skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the conceptualizations used by prospective middle school mathematics teachers when defining, representing, and exemplifying the slope concept and relating it with other mathematical situations were examined. Participants' conceptualizations were identified by Nagle, C., Moore-Russo, D., Viglietti, J., & Martin, K. [(2013). Calculus students' and instructors' conceptualizations of slope: A comparison across academic levels. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 11(6), 1491–1515. ] framework. The findings showed the prospective teachers mostly used trigonometric and parametric conceptions. Real-world situation, calculus conception, geometric ratio, and determining property were other common conceptualizations used by the participants. On the other hand, algebraic ratio, behaviour indicator, physical property, and functional property conceptualizations were seldom used and linear constant conceptualization was never used by them. The implications for mathematics teacher educators and mathematics education researchers on how to remedy prospective teachers' possible difficulties and errors about slope are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An exploratory study was conducted to investigate the use of magic activities in a math course for prospective middle-school math teachers. This research report focuses on a lesson using two versions of math magic: (1) the 5-4-3-2-1-½ Magic involves having students choose a secret number and apply six arithmetic operations in sequence to arrive at a resultant number, and the teacher-magician can spontaneously reveal a student's secret number from the resultant number; and (2) the Everyone-Got-9 Magic also involves choosing a secret number and applying arithmetic operations in sequence, but everyone will end up with the same resultant number of 9. These magic activities were implemented to reinforce students' understanding of foundational algebra concepts like variables, expressions, and inverse functions. Analysis of students' written responses revealed that (1) all students who figured out the trick in the first magic activity did not used algebra, (2) most students could apply what they learned in one trick to a similar trick but not to a different trick, and (3) many students were weak in symbolic representations and manipulations. Responses from a survey and a focus group indicate that students found the magic activities to be fun and intellectually engaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowing when students have the prerequisite knowledge to be able to read and understand a mathematical text is a perennial concern for instructors. Using text describing Newton's method and Vinner's notion of concept image, we exemplify how prerequisite knowledge influences understanding. Through clinical interviews with first-semester calculus students, we determined how evoked concept images of tangent lines and roots contributed to students’ interpretation and application of Newton's method. Results show that some students’ concept images of root and tangent line developed throughout the interview process, and most students were able to adequately interpret the text on Newton's method. However, students with insufficient concept images of tangent line and students who were unwilling or unable to modify their concept images of tangent line after reading the text were not successful in interpreting Newton's method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given two vectors u and v, their cross product u × v is a vector perpendicular to u and v. The motivation for this property, however, is never addressed. Here we show that the existence of the cross and dot products and the perpendicularity property follow from the concept of linear combination, which does not involve products of vectors. For our proof we consider the plane generated by a linear combination of uand v. When looking for the coefficients in the linear combination required to reach a desired point on the plane, the solution involves the existence of a normal vector n = u × v. Our results have a bearing on the history of vector analysis, as a product similar to the cross product but without the perpendicularity requirement existed at the same time. These competing products originate in the work of two major nineteen-century mathematicians, W. Hamilton, and H. Grassmann. These historical aspects are discussed in some detail here. We also address certain aspects of the teaching of u × v to undergraduate students, which is known to carry some difficulties. This includes the algebraic and geometric denitions of u × v, the rule for the direction of u × v, and the pseudovectorial nature of u × v. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When asked, a number of students answer zero factorial to be zero as a continuation to the answer of one factorial to be one. Any instructor would then seek a justification of zero factorial to be one from computing nCn via the well- known combination formula. This article conveys a simple presentation of zero factorial to be one based on lower and upper bounds of n factorial. We have not seen this explanation covered in any algebra textbook. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]