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In order to learn the concept of statistical techniques one needs to run real experiments that generate reliable data. In practice, the data from some well-defined process or system is very costly and time consuming. It is difficult to run real experiments during the teaching period in the university. To overcome these difficulties, statisticians developed simple and very economical experiments, which can be performed in the class by the students. Stone studied the variation, bias, stability and statistical quality control through the Blind Paper Cutting (BPC) experiment. In this article, the Blind Paper Cutting experiment is demonstrated on the basis of basic principles of experiment design. A BPC experiment is performed considering different factors, and important factors to optimise the response are identified through complete factorial design. The appropriate response model using important factors has been constructed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a practitioner study of a first-year undergraduate service course that aligns a web-based, student-lecturer communication system with the mathematical curriculum. The report presents and analyses data from students and from the lecturer and outlines the nature of the technical interface. The paper indicates how communication of the students' affective learning needs had a positive influence on the professional development of the lecturer himself. Furthermore, it is claimed that the success of mathematics/statistics teaching that integrates emotional responses from learners is intimately related to the knowledge, skills, beliefs and values of the lecturer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Papers presented at earlier Delta conferences reported on the use of collaborative tutorials and peer-tutors in undergraduate mathematics courses at The University of Auckland. This paper reports on significant developments within the Department's programmes, including the extension of the collaborative small-class tutorials to cover all first-year undergraduate courses in the department. It provides evidence of the effectiveness of the tutorial programme, as gauged from a survey of students' perceptions. Many of the students enrolled in the Tutoring in Mathematics course that initially trains and provides the peer-group tutors continue on as tutors in other mathematics courses within the Department. Some subsequently enrol in the University's Graduate Diploma in Teaching (Secondary). The effects of the tutoring course on tutors continuing to tutor at higher levels, and their performances as novice teachers in the Diploma course are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It seems self-evident that there is a significant gap between secondary school and university mathematics, even though the gap may take different forms, which vary with different education systems in different places and at different times. This paper attempts to capture some common forms of this gap, and in particular, it discusses some core factors that are directly related to the nature of mathematics. Further, it also attempts to find ways to bridge the gap more easily and surely for students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a collaboration between three authors; two mathematicians in a Swedish university and a UK-based mathematics educator. The focus of the enquiry was the evaluation of the experience of Swedish first-year undergraduate engineers required, in their mathematics class, to learn to use the programming language Matlab . Students were interviewed and their responses compared with the intentions and expectations of lecturers. Students discerned a lack of clarity in course planning but also had many very sensible suggestions to make, the implementation of which would, they claimed, facilitate their learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students' difficulty with reasoning and justification in the context of proofs in geometry has been well documented. Studies reveal that many of the ideas that students are asked to prove are known to be true, and therefore, the process of such proof is likely to remain meaningless and purposeless. The implication of this claim is that students need to be asked to prove mathematical assertions that are not known to them to be true. This puts an enormous responsibility on teachers. The purpose of this paper is to provide examples of 'non-traditional conjectures' that can be explored in the dynamic geometry environment of computer construction programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the answers of a group of first-year university Mathematics students to a questionnaire, with the aim of determining the difficulties they have when carrying out non-routine tasks related to improper integrals. The questionnaire consisted of nine questions including not only calculus tasks and determining the convergence of given improper integrals, but also intuitive questions and some paradoxical results too (for example, a figure with an infinite longitude which closes the same area as the unit circumference, or an infinite figure with a finite volume). In particular, the students were asked to interpret most of the results they had obtained. Answers given by the students to each of the questions were categorized, which allowed some initial conclusions to be reached regarding this research. From analyses carried out, one can conclude that there are students who have difficulties in articulating the different systems of representation, and have problems in connecting and relating this knowledge as a generalization of previous concepts, such as definite integrals, series and sequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports a compilation of results from three studies conducted over three years to determine students' conceptions of mathematics, and orientations they follow in learning the subject. Respondents were 459 first year mathematics students from four universities and one teacher college. Results indicated that more than half the sample reported mathematics to be a subject made of numbers and formulae that could be memorized. This suggests a shallow emphasis when learning the subject, with no intention to understand. However, most students passed their examinations. It was concluded that there was no statistically significant relationship between examinations results and students' learning orientations. It is recommended that lecturers should foster students' meta-learning capabilities and an awareness of different learning strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent survey Sutherland and Dewhurst itemized the extent to which various types of departments expected selected mathematical topics in the background of incoming undergraduates. Using the results of diagnostic tests it is possible to estimate the actual capability of students with given prior qualifications to provide a 'probable preparedness' in specific topics. This paper compares expectations with probable preparedness in a range of topics. It is found that while some departments have realistic expectations about the background of their incoming students, others seem over-optimistic about the mathematical knowledge of today's students. Sometimes, topics that the department actually requires must in fact be covered ab initio with the students that they recruit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]