T-assessment: a Bold Suggestion Modestly Advanced

By Keith Devlin @profkeithdevlin I sometimes use this column to float an idea I think deserves attention. Not on a whim, but after considerable thought and discussion with others expert in the relevant domain(s). This is one of those times. I already set the scene with last month’s post. Here is a nuanced, bullet-point summary...

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Math: EAGER: Assessing Impacts on Student Learning in Mathematics from Inclusion of Biological, Real-World Examples

By Audrey Malagon, Lead Editor of DUE Point Anyone who has taught calculus knows it is rich with real-life applications, especially in the life sciences. While there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence that teaching calculus with an eye towards application has a positive impact on student learning, this project team wants to investigate that claim with...

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Welcome to Math Values from the Mathematical Association of America

By Michael Pearson, Executive Director of the Mathematical Association of America Welcome to Math Values! Our goal is to use this platform to, in the words our mission, advance the understanding of mathematics and its impact on our world. Math Values is just one part of our overall strategy to communicate the power and beauty...

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Introducing DUE Point: An MAA blog on NSF-funded Projects Advancing Undergraduate Mathematics Education

By Katie Haymaker, Co-editor of DUE Point Every year the National Science Foundation (NSF) funds hundreds of grants that support undergraduate education, with many of them specifically targeting mathematics or STEM disciplines. The goals of the NSF Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) are “to provide leadership, support curriculum development, prepare the workforce, and foster connections.”...

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The Derivative is not the Slope of the Tangent Line

By David Bressoud @dbressoud The title of this article is not intended to imply that one cannot use the derivative to find the slope of a tangent line. My point is that we cannot and should not expect students to base their understanding of the derivative on the slope of the tangent. When I teach...

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Mathematics: A Critical Tool for Understanding the Oceans

By Adrian Constantin and George Haller This post is adapted from the introduction to a special issue on Mathematical Aspects of Physical Oceanography, volume 31, no. 3 of Oceanography, the official magazine of the Oceanographic Society, and is published with the permission of The Oceanography Society. Our knowledge and understanding of ocean dynamics is far...

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It’s High Time to Re-focus Systemic Mathematics Education – and Change the Way We Assess It

By Keith Devlin @profkeithdevlin “In math you have to remember, in other subjects you can think about it.” That statement by a female high-school student, was quoted by my Stanford colleague Prof Jo Boaler in her 2009 book What's Math Got To Do With It? I took it as the title of my June 2010 Devlin’s Angle post,...

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CBMS Forum Announcement: High School to College Mathematics Pathways

By David Bressoud @dbressoud Figure 1. Bill McCallum, Brit Kirwan, and Joan Leitzel at the Third CBMS Forum, Content-Based Professional Development for Teachers of Mathematics, October 10-12, 2010 I am using this month’s column to announce the next Forum from the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences (CBMS), High School to College Mathematics Pathways: Preparing Students...

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Is Math Really Beautiful?

By Keith Devlin @profkeithdevlin The above tweet caught my eye recently. The author is a National Board Certified mathematics teacher in New York City who has an active social media presence. Is his claim correct? Not surprisingly, a number of other mathematics educators responded, and in the course of the exchange, the author modified his...

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Should Students Wait until College to Take Calculus?

By David Bressoud @dbressoud I have often cited data from the Sadler and Sonnert FICSMath study (Factors Influencing College Success in Mathematics, sponsored by NSF grant #0813702), a large-scale study of 10,437 students in mainstream Calculus I in the fall of 2009 at a stratified random sample of 134 U.S. colleges and universities. Sadler and Sonnert have...

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