Mathematics Educators Stack Exchange
Mathematics Educators Stack Exchange

Most Popular

more tags
1500 questions
9
votes
2 answers

What to do when all the other teachers fail?

I'm teaching first semester algebra, the majority of the students share the rest of the classes. Sometimes I want to take examples from other courses so they can see that everything intertwines, but it has happend too many time that whenever I try…
Ana Galois
  • 835
  • 6
  • 14
9
votes
3 answers

Teaching Critical Thinking Skills

I am currently tutoring a few students in an entry level physics course and had some trouble recently when it comes to helping them with problem solving. The students I am helping don't have many issues when the problems are very straightforward.…
KBusc
  • 262
  • 2
  • 6
9
votes
6 answers

What topic could I cover in an optional course at high school taking two lessons a week during a whole semester?

I'm teaching mathematics at a high school and I am offered the opportunity to get extra lessons, namely: I can provide an optional course about some topic of mathematics. The optional course will take two lessons (each 45 minutes) a week and last a…
Huy
  • 699
  • 3
  • 14
9
votes
3 answers

Advantages of using calligraphic or script letters

In which areas of mathematics is it traditional to use calligraphic letters, such as $\cal{ABCDEFG}$, or script letters, such as $\scr{ABCDEDG}$, and is there a pedagogical advantage to doing so? (Note that, in line with a comment by Joel Reyes…
J W
  • 4,654
  • 2
  • 22
  • 44
9
votes
1 answer

New app teaches math really fast. How does it work?

There's a new story about an app that "teaches UK pupils 18 months of maths in six weeks". Assuming this result is true (and such claims need a strong justification), what could be the cause of this app working so well, and of the huge…
Goerge B.
  • 207
  • 1
  • 1
9
votes
2 answers

What caused the (relatively) recent popularity of set theory?

When I was growing up during the 1960s, "set builder notation" constituted a large part of what was then the "new math." Question: When and why did "set theory" become popular in math education? Was it because of the earlier application of sets…
Tom Au
  • 1,506
  • 9
  • 18
9
votes
6 answers

Should multivariable calculus be a two- rather than one- semester course?

Single variable calculus is typically (and reasonably) taught over a whole year, with the first semester being devoted to "differential" calculus, and the second semester being devoted to "integral" calculus. In my own experience, "multivariable"…
Tom Au
  • 1,506
  • 9
  • 18
9
votes
6 answers

What is a logical way to introduce probability and statistics to students that don't know fractions or percentages yet?

Students are exposed to sets very early in their education, so my first inclination is that this would be the best method to give children in the early primary grades an introduction to probability and statistics. I struggle with the notion of how…
jonsca
  • 743
  • 1
  • 4
  • 14
9
votes
4 answers

Using original texts while introducing new concepts in class

I'm still a undergrad math student, and my experience in education in math is very limited, however I've been lucky enough to meet teachers that encourage students who are interested in teaching, like myself, to work with their students as support.…
Ana Galois
  • 835
  • 6
  • 14
9
votes
11 answers

Applications of High School Geometry

Sometimes I struggle to give my students a sufficient number of reasons why they should study Geometry in high school, other than that it helps them think and increases their understanding of the world. Aside from sports and teaching itself, what…
Nate
  • 91
  • 1
  • 2
9
votes
3 answers

What is the best way to teach compound interest in high school?

It seems that a lot of high school seniors contemplating college are too naive about borrowing and repaying a loan to tell whether a given loan choice is rational or irrational. Or so we are being told. I would think that the prospect of taking out…
Walter Mitty
  • 291
  • 1
  • 6
9
votes
3 answers

Best practices for Proof Revision/ Proof Portfolio?

I'm teaching a class small enough that I'm considering encouraging proof revisions (i.e. students taking a second try on proof based homework problems after getting feedback) for the first time. I'd love advice from instructors who have tried it…
Mathprof
  • 1,205
  • 1
  • 8
  • 12
9
votes
7 answers

Loaning students calculators during exams

Context: I am an associate professor at a small liberal arts institution in the US. I find in my introductory business math course that students sometimes fail to buy a calculator for the course, despite my frequent reminders. Rather, they get by…
AegisCruiser
  • 1,429
  • 8
  • 19
9
votes
3 answers

Is there a standard convention for interpreting ambiguous absolute value expressions?

Consider the expression $$|x + 2|x + 3|x + 4|.$$ One way to interpret this is that there are two products being added together: $$|x+2|x \hspace{1cm} + \hspace{1cm} 3|x+4|$$ But you could also interpret it as the absolute value of an expression that…
Justin Skycak
  • 9,199
  • 4
  • 27
  • 47
9
votes
8 answers

Why do most Analysis textbooks overlook, and fail to teach delta-epsilon proofs, using the K-ε principle?

When writing $\delta$-$\varepsilon$ proofs, it's common that the ''natural'' choice of $\delta$ leads to the final inequality in the form, say, $|\ldots| < \varepsilon+\varepsilon+\varepsilon$ instead of $|\ldots| < \varepsilon$. It's always…
user27289
  • 139
  • 1
  • 8
1 2 3
…
99 100