Mathematics Commons^™

Teaching Time Savers: A Recommendation For Recommendations, Michael E. Orrison Jr.

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

I admit it — I enjoy writing recommendation letters for my students. I like
learning about their hopes and dreams, where they have been and where they want to go. A recommendation letter is an opportunity to remind myself how much my students can grow while they are in college, and how much I have grown as an instructor, advisor, and mentor.

Communicating Applied Mathematics: Four Examples, Daniel E. Finkel, Christopher Kuster, Matthew Lasater, Rachel Levy, Jill P. Reese, Ilse C. F. Ipsen

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

Communicating Applied Mathematics is a writing- and speaking-intensive graduate course at North Carolina State University. The purpose of this article is to provide a brief description of the course objectives and the assignments. Parts A–D of of this article represent the class projects and illustrate the outcome of the course:

• The Evolution of an Optimization Test Problem: From Motivation to Implementation, by Daniel E. Finkel and Jill P. Reese

• Finding the Volume of a Powder from a Single Surface Height Measurement, by Christopher Kuster

• Finding Oscillations in Resonant Tunneling Diodes, by Matthew Lasater

• …

Looking Beyond The Curriculum In Jamaica, Jon T. Jacobsen, Michael E. Orrison Jr.

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

In August 2004, we had the opportunity to travel to Jamaica to lead a pilot workshop for Jamaican high school math teachers. The workshop focused on the importance of mathematical context in the teaching of mathematics. It was sponsored by the Gibraltar Institute, a Jamaica-based nongovernmental organization led by Trevor Campbell (Pomona College) and Reginald Nugent (Cal State Pomona), Jamaica’s College of Agriculture, Science and Education, and Harvey Mudd College.

Gender Differences In Reading And Math Scores On The Pennsylvania System Of School Assessment Grade Five And Grade Eight Tests, Steven J. Rush

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Teaching Fractions, Natalie Miles

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Because fractions are a vital part of mathematics instruction in schools and can be found in real life, it is important that all students understand and be able to utilize them. Teachers should choose strategies that will work best for their individual students, taking into account the various ways their students learn and the fraction knowledge students already possess. To effectively teach fractions, teachers must find ways to prompt student interest. Teachers can accomplish this through the use of technology. games. and manipulatives. Effective teachers must take into account the cultural diversity of their students. Teachers must be able to …

The Effects Of The Cognitive Tutor Algebra On Student Attitudes And Achievement In A 9th Grade Algebra Course, Gary S. Plano

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Drill 3.1, Vadim Ponomarenko

Mathematics Faculty Research

Distance learning can offer a solution to a long-standing challenge of undergraduate education: how to assign an appropriate amount of work to each student, and how to assess this work efficiently. In this paper I describe the Depository of Repetitive Internet-based probLems and Lessons (DRILL), an online system for providing education and assessment for precalculus, which can substitute for routine problems given in homework and as exam questions. Its special features include:

• adaptive testing,
• on-the-fly question generation,
• instant assessment,
• context-sensitive help,
• question balancing, and
• two-dimensional test design.

Mathematical Card Tricks, Sarah Zimmermann

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

Diagnostic Regional Analysis On The Shortfalls In Development And Utilization Of Human Resource In India: A Statistical Study On The Spatial Variations By Districts Of India., Prasanta Pathak Dr.

Doctoral Theses

The main objective of this study has been estimation of model formulations, empirical evaluations and statistical analyses for identifying the existing regional patterns and structures of human resource development in the formative phase of human life-span through education, and the utilisation, or other- wise non-utilisation, during the activity phase of life-span in existing productive and related activities of our labour-abundant developing economy of India. Despite some awareness to the problems of development and balanced-utilisations of human resources into activities and also despite the various follow- up planning efforts undertaken, or stated to be undertaken, as reported in different Five-Year Plan …

A Quantitative Analysis Of Poverty, Inequality And Consumer Behaviour: The Case Of The Schedule Casts And Tribes Of Karnataka., Shailaja Raghuprasad Dr.

Doctoral Theses

The concept of growth with social justice is basic to the philosophy of development underlying Indian economic Planning. This philosophy is reflected in our former Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi's foreword to the sixth Plan (1980-85) document where she wrote, Economic Growth must be balanced, it must ensure self - reliance, stability and social justice. All sections should be assured that there will be no discrimination'.It is with those weaker sections - rather a segment of them that this study is concerned, Our study is an attempt to look closely at the levels of living and the consumer behaviour of …

Transformational Geometry Unit, Elizabeth Ann O'Neill

All Graduate Projects

The study included the development and writing of a unit on transformational geometry which involved a holistic approach including the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains. This unit was taught to the eighth grade class in the Oakville School District in Oakville, Washington. The results showed support that the teaching of this unit was effective.

A Comparative Investigation Of The Effects Of Frequent Testing Upon Achievement In Secondary Advanced Algebra, John Thomas Fullerton

All Master's Theses

Relatively speaking, few studies have concerned themselves with the problem of frequent testing, and as Keys pointed out, empirical evidence, uncomplicated by differences in the amount of testing material employed, on the effects of frequent testing is, at best, scarce (14:427). Also many studies used tests and test results for direct instruction, thus introducing additional variables. Furthermore, the choice of subjects and disciplines has been limited, the better part being taken from college psychology and sociology classes or high school science classes. This investigation was not an attempt to modify previous experiments, nor was it an attempt to identify which …

An Elementary Mathematics Curriculum Study To Determine If Achievement And Attitude Can Be Influenced By A Textbook Adoption, Elsie M. Railey

All Master's Theses

There is on the market a wide range of contemporary mathematics textbooks available. Textbooks approach mathematics differently and there is a variation in terms of the amount of time allocated to a topic, the development of elementary concepts and laws of arithmetic, and the amount of drill and repetition. The sequential development of the texts follows closely, but the scope and content differ significantly. Specifically, it is the purpose of this study to determine if there is a significant difference between series, as opposed to those in another mathematics series, in the variables of attitude and achievement. The two textbooks …

On The Theory Of Quaternions, Earle David Smith

All Master's Theses

Ordered triplets serve to describe space geometrically just as ordered pairs serve to describe the plane. A multiplication can be defined on pairs consistent with the complex numbers. However, as this paper will show, one cannot define a multiplication on triplets which is consistent with the complex numbers.

Experimental And Observational Geometry, Albert D. Field

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Geometry has the distinction of being one of the oldest subjects given in the high-school.

Its subject-matter was formulated and organized by the Greeks into a fine system of thought before the time of Christ. Since leaving the hands of the Greeks, geometry has received only a few minor changes, and these largely in recent years.

Heretofore, the study of geometry has been made almost entirely dependent upon memory and reasoning. Geometricians have been slow in adopting the laboratory and observational methods.

This thesis has been written to encourage the student in his work of observing geometrical forms, and in …