Presents experience with creating and teaching a course on mathematics using works of fiction as the primary texts. Describes the goal of the course as giving students an appreciation for the beauty, power, and significance of mathematics. (Author/KHR)

Investigates the effects of instructional environment on students' conceptual understanding and procedural knowledge of calculus. Uses multiple achievement measures to determine the degree to which students from different instructional environments had mastered the concepts and procedures inherent to first semester calculus. Indicates no…

Describes a research-based analytical framework for motivation, activity, learning, and attribution to exam classroom management issues in student-centered instruction. Reviews research in classroom management for university and college-level classrooms. Describes the research base for the framework. (Contains 88 citations.) (Author/KHR)

Describes a way to teach mathematics majors as guest instructors in their classroom to utilize resources with a wealth of experience, ideas, and enthusiasm. (Author/KHR)

Examines the performance of two groups of students in traditionally-taught second semester calculus: students who took reform first semester calculus and students who took traditionally-taught first semester calculus. Identifies and explores the issues that reform students faced as they transitioned into traditionally-taught second semester…

Describes the writing of a new placement test and provides detailed results of a validity study on the test. Concludes that placement testing does not work very well. Suggests that undergraduate mathematics departments consider using existing data rather than giving a separate placement test. (Author/KHR)

Raises issues and questions concerning the judicious choice of a textbook to teach the history of mathematics. (Author/KHR)

Discusses three different writing assignments used in calculus courses. The assignments represent personal, informational, and blended purposes. (Author/MM)

Explores the problem posing abilities and attitudes towards mathematics of students in a university pre-calculus class and a university mathematical proof class. Reports a significant difference in numeric posing versus non-numeric posing ability in both classes. (Author/MM)

Reports on a long-term collaborative effort between Northeastern University and inner-city high schools in Boston which resulted in the wide-spread introduction of reform classes in schools previously lacking calculus. (Author/MM)

Discusses the teaching preparation program for new mathematics instructors at the U.S. Air Force Academy. The program is structured into a series of five practice lessons, each focused on particular aspects of effective teaching. Summarizes participant feedback from the program. (Author/MM)

Investigates issues of mathematics instruction of problems in blocks. Discusses the best way to construct mathematical problems with connections to one another as parts of a coherent whole and how to reflect on the types of connections that can arise between them. (Author/KHR)

Discusses one way of addressing the difficulty of mastering a large number of concepts through the use of ConcepTests; that is, multiple choice questions given in a lecture that test understanding as opposed to calculation. Investigates various types of ConcepTests and the material they can cover. (Author/KHR)

Describes teaching a course on the history of mathematics intended for prospective teachers. Presents a brief overview of the course created, difficulties encountered, and some solutions discovered. (Author/KHR)

Describes a two-semester numerical methods course that serves as a research experience for undergraduate students without requiring external funding or the modification of current curriculum. Uses an engineering problem to introduce students to constrained optimization via a variation of the traditional isoperimetric problem of finding the curve…