Education Commons^™

The World Before Calculus: Historical Approaches To The Tangent Line Problem, Lindsay Skinner

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Pierre de Fermat and René Descartes were two brilliant 17th century mathematicians who have had lasting impacts on modern mathematics. Descartes laid the groundwork for the Cartesian coordinate system that is frequently employed in modern mathematics and Fermat’s last theorem vexed the mathematics community until Wiles’ proof was published in 1995. Amidst their many ground-breaking accomplishments these two men produced solutions for another mathematical problem - developing a general method to find the tangent line to a curve.

In spite of their apparent genius, neither man’s method had the lasting impact of their other works. Descartes’ and Fermat’s methods were …

How Accurate Are Physics Students In Evaluating Changes In Their Understanding?, Therese Claire, Tija L. Tippett, Andrew Boudreaux

Physics & Astronomy

An assessment question involving Newton’s 2nd law was administered in a physics course for preservice elementary teachers before and again after instruction. The posttest included a prompt asking students to describe the specific ways their thinking changed. Student reasoning was coded for physics content accuracy; many students exhibited changes from primitive, experientially-based reasoning to more formal reasoning. Students' self-reported reflections were then compared to the differences in the pre- and posttest codes. We find that many students do not identify substantive changes in their reasoning, while other students reflect at only a surface level. We also find that some students …