Education Commons^™

The Gentle Man Who Taught Infinity, Sheshagiri K.M. Rao

Teacher India

Sheshagiri KM Rao describes the non-conventional teaching methods of his high school mathematics teacher Channa who helped students to discover the beauty in mathematics.

“Diabesity” Among Latinos: A Culturally Relevant Mathematics Activity By A Mathematics Teacher Candidate, Olga Ramirez, Cherie Mccollough

School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper summarizes a culturally relevant mathematics project conducted by a mentored secondary-level Latino teacher candidate (TC) as a requirement for an undergraduate mathematics project course at a south Texas university. The culturally relevant math project involved four secondary Latino students and their parents. The topic was “diabesity”; that is, diabetes and obesity among Latinos southern region in the United States of America with an emphasis on body mass index, proper diet, and exercise. Remarks by the faculty mentor and a faculty consultant about the TC work and reflections regarding this project are also included and provide perspectives on how …

On The Removal Of Motivation And Structural Barriers In The Classroom And Across The Mathematics Curriculum, Benjamin Wiles, Chantal Levesque-Bristol

IMPACT Presentations

Presentation at the research roundtable discussion at the 2018 Critical Issues in Math Education Workshop, Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, in Berkeley, CA.

Presents data on the ability of active learning methods to impact motivation and promote learning outcomes in mathematics courses.

How To Teach Implication, Martha Osegueda Escobar, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Logical implication is a somewhat counter-intuitive notion. For students, it is difficult to understand why a false statement implies everything. In this paper, we present a simple pedagogical way to make logical implication more intuitive.

English Language Learners In The Mathematics Classroom, Julia Mccormick

Senior Honors Projects

Mathematics is often considered a universal language. Most of us have heard this statement from a math teacher at some point throughout our academic careers. However, for students moving to the United States from another country with minimal fluency in English, this is clearly not the case. They may walk into math class, a subject area in which they may have excelled in their native country, and see the words “polynomial”, “coefficient”, and “differentiate” on the board. Regardless of their experiences in their native language, there are disconnects and cultural differences between languages and skills emphasized that prevents mathematics from …

Using Technology To Determine Factorability Or Non-Factorability Of Quadratic Algebraic Trinomials, John E. T. Bernard, Olga Ramirez, Cristina Villalobos

School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper is aimed for mathematics educators who teach algebra, more specifically, the factoring of quadratic algebraic expressions, and who want to enhance student learning of this topic using technology in conjunction with the Middle Term Splitting Method (Donnell, 2010; MTSM 2016a; MTSM 2016b). We will use technology-based algebra and geometry connections to help determine factorability or nonfactorability of quadratic algebraic trinomials over the integers, over the real numbers, and over the complex numbers, both with clarity, certainty and with understanding by using two equations, one derived from the coefficients of the outer terms and the other from the middle …

A Primer For Mathematical Modeling, Marla A. Sole

Publications and Research

With the implementation of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics recommendations and the adoption of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, modeling has moved to the forefront of K-12 education. Modeling activities not only reinforce purposeful problem-solving skills, they also connect the mathematics students learn in school with the mathematics they will use outside of school. Instructors have found mathematical modeling difficult to teach. To successfully incorporate modeling activities I believe that curricular changes should be accompanied by professional development for curriculum developers, classroom teachers, and higher education professionals. This article serves as an introduction to modeling by …

Teachers Reflecting Differently: Deconstructing The Discursive Teacher/Student Binary, David W. Stinson, Ginny C. Powell

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

This session explores the ways that practicing teachers came to reflect differently regarding the discursive teacher/student binary during a graduate-level course entitled “Mathematics Education within the Postmodern.” Using Dewey’s concept of reflective thinking, as well as Foucault’s discourse and Derrida’s deconstruction, we show how the course provided new suggestions for the students as they continued their journey of becoming teachers. Through interweaving comments written by the students with concepts borrowed from postmodern philosophers and theorists, we illustrate how the teachers began to understand that teachers and students might indeed be described differently in the postmodern.

Introducing Interior-Point Methods For Introductory Operations Research Courses And/Or Linear Programming Courses, Goran Lesaja

Department of Mathematical Sciences Faculty Publications

In recent years the introduction and development of Interior-Point Methods has had a profound impact on optimization theory as well as practice, influencing the field of Operations Research and related areas. Development of these methods has quickly led to the design of new and efficient optimization codes particularly for Linear Programming. Consequently, there has been an increasing need to introduce theory and methods of this new area in optimization into the appropriate undergraduate and first year graduate courses such as introductory Operations Research and/or Linear Programming courses, Industrial Engineering courses and Math Modeling courses. The objective of this paper is …

Becoming Critical Mathematics Pedagogues: A Journey, David W. Stinson, Carla R. Bidwell, Ginny C. Powell, Mary M. Thurman

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

This session will report the findings of a study that explored the beginning transformations in the pedagogical philosophies and practices of three mathematics teachers (middle, high school, and 2-year college) who completed a graduate-level mathematics education course that focused on critical theory and teaching for social justice, and how these transformations are compatible (or not) with reform mathematics education as suggested by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), and in turn, the new Georgia Performance Standards (GPS). The study employed Freirian participatory research methodology; in fact, the participants were not only coresearchers, but also co-authors of the study. …

Critical Mathematics Pedagogy: Transforming Teachers’ Practices, David W. Stinson, Carla R. Bidwell, Christopher C. Jett, Ginny C. Powell, Mary M. Thurman

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

This study reports the effects of a graduate-level mathematics education course that focused on critical theory and teaching for social justice on the pedagogical philosophies and practices of three mathematics teachers (middle, high school, and 2-year college). The study employed Freirian participatory research methodology; in fact, the participants were not only co-researchers, but also co-authors of the study. Data collection included reflective essays, journals, and “storytelling”; data analysis was a combination of textual analysis and autoethnography. The findings report that the teachers believed that the course provided not only a new language but also a legitimization to transform their pedagogical …

What Is Mathematics?: Teachers Exploring The Philosophy Of Mathematics, Kimberly White-Fredette, David W. Stinson

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Mathematics Placement Test: Helping Students Succeed, Norma Rueda, Carole Sokolowski

Mathematics Faculty Publications

A study was conducted at Merrimack College in Massachusetts to compare the grades of students who took the recommended course as determined by their mathematics placement exam score and those who did not follow this recommendation. The goal was to decide whether the mathematics placement exam used at Merrimack College was effective in placing students in the appropriate mathematics class. During five years, first-year students who took a mathematics course in the fall semester were categorized into four groups: those who took the recommended course, those who took an easier course than recommended, those who took a course more difficult …

Mathematics As “Gate-Keeper” (?): Three Theoretical Perspectives That Aim Toward Empowering All Children With A Key To The Gate, David W. Stinson

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

In this article, the author’s intent is to begin a conversation centered on the question: How might mathematics educators ensure that gatekeeping mathematics becomes an inclusive instrument for empowerment rather than an exclusive instrument for stratification? In the first part of the discussion, the author provides a historical perspective of the concept of “gatekeeper” in mathematics education. After substantiating mathematics as a gatekeeper, the author proceeds to provide a definition of empowering mathematics within a Freirian frame, and describes three theoretical perspectives of mathematics education that aim toward empowering all children with a key to the gate: the situated perspective, …

Deductive Mathematics: An Introduction To Proof And Discovery For Mathematics Education, Andrew Wohlgemuth

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Scholarship

Mathematics has two fundamental aspects: (1) discovery/logical deduction and (2) description/ computation. Discovery/deductive mathematics asks the questions:

1. What is true about this thing being studied?

2. How do we know it is true?

On the other hand, descriptive/computational mathematics asks questions of the type:

3. What is the particular number, function, and so on, that satisfies ... ?

4. How can we find the number, function, and so on?

In descriptive/computational mathematics, some pictorial, physical, or business situation is described mathematically, and then computational techniques are applied to the mathematical description, in order to find values of interest. The …