In undergraduate mathematics, deductive reasoning plays important roles in teaching and learning various ideas, and is primarily characterized by the concept of logical implication. This comes up whenever conditional statements are applied, i.e., one checks if a statement's hypotheses are satisfied and then makes inferences. In calculus, students…

We describe the development and initial validity assessment of the 20-item BioCalculus Assessment (BCA), with the objective of comparing undergraduate life science students' understanding of calculus concepts in different courses with alternative emphases (with and without focus on biological applications). The development process of the BCA…

Delivering an effective online mathematics course at the university level is more challenging than the offline mode because of the method course content's nature. One of the strategies to answer the challenges faced in an online learning environment is the utilization of Open Educational Resources (OER). This descriptive case study research…

The purpose of this study is to investigate how students interpret expressions from calculus statements in the graphical register. To this end, I conducted 150-minute clinical interviews with 13 undergraduate mathematics students who had completed at least one calculus course. In the interviews, students evaluated six calculus statements for…

Calls to increase the number of STEM graduates on a global scale have created pressure on universities to graduate higher numbers of quality engineers. In response, many engineering and mathematics departments have begun to develop variations of calculus courses specifically for engineering majors. Using a mixed methods research design, we…

AB 1705 requires colleges to validate their math placement policies and associated enrollment practices to ensure that students begin in coursework that gives them the best chance of completing the initial transfer-level math requirements for their academic goal. If students are required to enroll in prerequisite coursework prior to the…

Answering a call by the "Common Vision" for instructional material to "establish stronger connections with other disciplines" and "work with professional-level technology tools," the present article shows how various aspects of fitting circles to data fit in existing courses from basic calculus to advanced calculus.

Tensor calculus is critical in the study of the vector calculus of the surface of a body. Indeed, tensor calculus is a natural step-up for vector calculus. This paper presents some pitfalls of a traditional course in vector calculus in transitioning to tensor calculus. We show how a deeper emphasis on traditional topics such as the Jacobian can…

Cornell University has long offered a Calculus for Life Sciences course. In this case study, we report on how a team of pure mathematicians has modernized both the content and teaching methods of this course. The content went from a standard calculus course with few genuine applications in the life sciences to a course focusing on dynamical…

Tangent lines are often first introduced to students in geometry during the study of circles. The topic may be repeatedly reintroduced to students in different contexts throughout their schooling, and often each reintroduction is accompanied by a new, nonequivalent definition of tangent lines. In calculus, tangent lines are again reintroduced to…

Many active learning practices highly depend on students' advance preparation for the class. However, reading Calculus can be a challenging task to students. We address this concern by assigning targeted pre-class readings in multiple Calculus courses. We report on our implementations, provide students' feedback, and discuss the lessons learned…

This study is based on an exploratory teaching experiment, integrating the use of GeoGebra, carried out with Brazilian pre-service mathematics teachers that were attending a Pre-Calculus course. We focus on the contributions of GeoGebra to the learning that the students evidence about the 'instantaneous rate of change', in this teaching experiment…

As calculus instruction moves further from lecture-based instruction toward student-centered pedagogy, support services must align with the changing goals for the course. This paper describes the work of a department as they collectively design and redesign a co-requisite Calculus I course, in an effort to better promote students' academic and…

This article includes a case study describing our innovative teaching technique of assigning reading journals in a first semester calculus course (Calculus I), as well as an exposition about and recommendations arising from our subsequent experiences implementing similar methods in Junior and Senior mathematics courses. In the primary case study…

Researchers have been interested in students' transition to calculus since the early 1900s. One line of inquiry highlights students' understandings of high school mathematics as impeding or supporting their successful transition to university mathematics. This paper addresses an underlying question in this line of inquiry: does school mathematics…