Experimental Programs: High School Mathematics Background of College Freshmen before and after Sputnik

1970 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 339-341
Author(s):  
Haym Kruglak

The launching of Sputnik 1 stimulated numerous heated debates and reforms in the teaching of science and mathematics. There are few published studies which compare two generations of high school students with respect to mathematics background during this critical period.

Author(s):  
Isaac Bengre Taley ◽  
Matilda Sarpong Adusei

Helping junior high school students to use calculators and computers for problem solving and investigating real-life situations is an objective of the junior high school mathematics curriculum in Ghana. Ironically, there is a technological drought in junior high school mathematics instruction in Ghana, with a suspicion that mathematics teachers’ competency in the use of calculators for teaching may be the source of this lack of use. This study sought to establish a correlation between junior high school mathematics teachers’ competence and the motivation supporting the use of calculators in teaching.  A descriptive survey comprising of a test and questionnaire was used to collect data from junior high school mathematics teachers in an educational district in Ghana. Teacher characteristics such as educational attainment, age, and gender in relation to teachers’ competency in the use of calculators were discussed in the study. The results showed that about 70% of the teachers exhibited a low level of calculator competence. Besides, novice teachers outperformed expert teachers in the calculator competency-based test. Additionally, mathematics teachers’ enthusiasm for using calculators in teaching was directly associated with the teachers’ level of competency. The findings may send a signal to stakeholders in their efforts to revising the Ghana JHS curriculum in order to actualize the curriculum desire for the integration of technology in the teaching and learning of JHS mathematics.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmet CAKIR

This article presents the results of a quantitative and qualitative research on the attitudes of students and beliefs of teachers about educational software prepared for mathematics lessons. It will be helpful for high school mathematics teachers as well as for researchers in the field of teaching mathematics. The aim of the article is to investigate the beliefs and attitudes of high school students and mathematics teachers about some educational software, including “Zambak Interactive Form” that is prepared for mathematics lessons. In the article, the following questions are answered: “What are the criteria for selecting or preparing an educational software for mathematics lessons?”, “How are the attitudes of high school students about the educational software for mathematics lesson?” and “What are the beliefs and attitudes of mathematics teachers about the educational software and Zambak Interactive Form?” For the research part of the article, two questionnaires were developed by the researcher; one for high school students and another for mathematics teachers from 9 countries. Student’s questionnaire searches the attitudes of students towards educational software. Teacher’s questionnaire searches the beliefs of mathematics teachers about educational devices and software. It was found that the use of appropriate software and technological devices in education have a positive effect on the attitude of students in mathematics lessons. The administrators need to support their teachers to find or prepare effective software for their schools. Also, majority of the teachers are aware of the importance of using appropriate educational software.


1963 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-30
Author(s):  
Wilma E. Rollins ◽  
Stanley P. Brown ◽  
Arnold O. Johnson ◽  
Anthony G. Soychak ◽  
Peter L. Dionne ◽  
...  

For the past two years, the Maine State Department of Education under a Title VII grant from the National Defense Education Act has sponsored the television program, “Concepts of Mathematics.” Three commercial television stations in Maine and one educational station in New Hampshire have cooperated in televising this program of advanced high school mathematics to capable high school sophomores, juniors, seniors, and adult viewers. The objective of this program was to identify and evaluate an economical and practical method of providing intellectual stimulation to gifted high school students.


1986 ◽  
Vol 79 (8) ◽  
pp. 598-655
Author(s):  
William E. Haigh

The first recommendation in An Agenda for Action (NCTM 1980) is that problem solving “be the focus of school mathematics in the 1980s.” Too often, high school mathematics courses avoid interesting and challenging problems because students lack the necessary background to solve the problems in a conventional manner. Many of these problems are interesting to students; but, because these students cannot find limits or derivatives of functions or use “advanced” mathematical techniques they are unable to pursue such problems. For example, maximum-minimum problems are usually introduced after students have experienced some work in calculus involving first and second derivatives. Most high school students are capable of understanding problems involving maximum and minimum values and, with the exception of understanding differentiation and application of differentiation techniques, are capable of handling the necessary mathematical skills that are involved in the solution of such problems.


2003 ◽  
Vol 96 (2) ◽  
pp. 112-116
Author(s):  
Angela L. E. Walmsley ◽  
Joe Muniz

During our experiences as high school mathematics teachers, we have discovered these three things. First, many high school students do not like to take mathematics courses. These students sometimes find that mathematics is boring and believe that it will be of no use to them after they graduate from high school. Stuart (2000) states that many people think of mathematics as something that causes stress and is unpleasant. Such students have high anxiety about learning mathematics and trying to succeed. Second, students have difficulty expressing their thoughts on paper or in front of their mathematics class. This phenomenon may occur because many traditional mathematics classrooms foster a competitive atmosphere among students (Johnson and Johnson 1989). Third, the students are not accustomed to taking an active role in learning mathematics. In light of these discoveries, we wanted to find a method of teaching high school mathematics classes that would help our students understand and enjoy the mathematics. In particular, we asked the following question: Would our students understand and enjoy mathematics more if we tried a cooperative learning approach rather than the traditionally taught teacher-centered method?


2003 ◽  
Vol 96 (2) ◽  
pp. 102-104
Author(s):  
Kathryn Risher

As high school mathematics teachers, my colleagues and I face this sad reality on a daily basis. After years of experience instructing teenagers in algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus, we have recognized a number of forces that impede the success of high school students in higher-level mathematics courses. Many students and their parents either fail to recognize these forces or refuse to face them.


2000 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 190-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Randel ◽  
Harold W. Stevenson ◽  
Evelin Witruk

A total of 1487 eleventh grade students in Leipzig (Germany) and Sendai (Japan) were given a test of basic concepts and operations in high school mathematics and a questionnaire involving beliefs, attitudes, and practices related to mathematics, their own abilities, and their psychological adjustment. Large differences were found between the two countries in the students’ performance. The lower scores of the German students are attributed to three major areas of difference. Compared to Japanese students, German students were less critical of themselves and their academic ability, held lower standards for their performance, and were less likely to attribute excellence in performance to studying. Students in both countries expressed few indications of maladjustment. When differences were found the indices of maladjustment were more common among German than among Japanese students. Boys obtained higher scores on the mathematics test than girls, were more likely to spend more time studying mathematics, and placed more importance on going to college than did girls. The poor performance of the German students appears to be attributable to the same kinds of beliefs and attitudes as those found in prior studies of US students, who also have received low scores on tests of mathematics achievement.


Aula Abierta ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 449
Author(s):  
Antonio González-García ◽  
Laura Muñiz-Rodríguez ◽  
Luis José Rodríguez-Muñiz

RESUMENLos errores que comete el alumnado al resolver una tarea matemática suponen una herramienta poderosa para detectar dificultades en el aprendizaje de esta disciplina. Su diagnóstico permite el desarrollo de técnicas de enseñanza que eviten o remedien su cometido. Este artículo presenta los resultados de un estudio exploratorio cuyo objetivo es analizar los errores que comete el alumnado al estudiar el concepto de derivada de una función. Para ello se examinaron los errores cometidos por 27 estudiantes de 1º de Bachillerato durante la resolución de una serie de ejercicios. Los resultados permiten identificar aquellas categorías en las que los estudiantes cometen mayores errores en el estudio de la derivada. El análisis también revela dificultades causadas por un aprendizaje deficiente de conocimientos previos. Todo ello invita a reflexionar sobre la necesidad de fomentar un análisis lógico y coherente de los conceptos, del lenguaje y de las soluciones, a la hora de resolver problemas matemáticos.Palabras Clave: Bachillerato, Derivada, Dificultades, Errores, Matemáticas.ABSTRACTThe errors that students make when solving a mathematical problem are a powerful tool to detect difficulties in the learning of this discipline. Their diagnosis allows the development of teaching techniques that avoid or rectify their commission. This article presents the results of an exploratory study which aims at analyzing the errors that students make when studying the concept of derivative of a function. To this end, the errors made by 27 high school students during the resolution of a series of exercises are examined. The results allow to identify those categories in which students make a higher number of errors when studying the derivative. The analysis also reveals difficulties caused by poor learning of prior knowledge. The later invites to reflect on the need to promote a logical and coherent analysis of concepts, language and solutions, when solving mathematical problems.Keywords: Derivative, Difficulties, Errors, High school, Mathematics.


1955 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 228-231
Author(s):  
Rogers E. Randall

Evidence continues to accumulate that our high school graduates do not know how to compute; however, in striving to improve computation, care should be taken that this does not overshadow the more important mathematical goals in our high school mathematics classes.


1975 ◽  
Vol 68 (6) ◽  
pp. 479-485
Author(s):  
Max A. Sobel

Ten specific suggestions for motivating junior high school students to learn mathematics.


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