This paper describes an activity using a dog treat ball to introduce systems of first-order differential equations. Beads are placed in the first of two hemispherical chambers of a food-dispensing dog toy. As the ball is turned, students track the number of beads in the first chamber, the second chamber, and the exterior of the ball. Students…

In the first part of the dialogue between theories, which gave rise to a paper in this journal, we discussed the role played by normativity in didactics. In this work, with the aim of taking a step forward in this dialogue, we state explicitly some of the postulates of the anthropological theory of the didactic. They shape the object of study, the…

The formation of students' social competence in the course of educational process in virtual educational environment represents an urgent pedagogical problem. The author proposes to present the development level of students' social competence through introducing certain variables determined on a relative scale into a mathematical model of the…

In this article, the authors describe their experiences with planning, implementing, and revising a lesson for which the goal is for students to consider the mathematical and pragmatic issues that are related to a task of maximizing the area for a fixed perimeter. The authors also wanted students to engage in the Standards for Mathematical…

We propose a new approach to classroom learning based on sequential numeral-division. It builds on the concept of trichotomy -- division of students based on creamy-level, middle-level and weaker-level students -- proposed by the present authors. A sequenced series of formative assessments can map student progress and achievement, particularly in…

In 2020, Year 12 students at John Curtin College of the Arts, were required to model COVID-19 data from five different countries in order to find correlations between daily infections and unemployment rates, in order to make future predictions. Work received from students demonstrated how the task successfully provided unique learning…

When examining students' participation in these mathematics discussions, the focus is on their verbal contributions. However, students' nonverbal contributions--such as pointing, drawings, and models-- can be crucial resources for advancing the mathematical thinking and the collective activity of a classroom community (Johnson et al., 2023; Webb…

We present adaptable activities for models of drug movement in the human body -- pharmacokinetics -- that motivate the learning of ordinary differential equations with an interdisciplinary topic. Specifically, we model aspirin, caffeine, and digoxin. We discuss the pedagogy of guiding students to understand, develop, and analyze models,…

Excluded-volume interactions are ubiquitous to modeling the average size of polymers in solution. This paper shows how simulations can be used by students to explore the emergence of mathematical scaling relations from excluded-volume interactions. Simulations provide robust visual representations of the system, and can be used to investigate a…

Inspired by the approach first employed by C.S. Holling in his classic "disc experiment," this article provides a sequence of learning activities that increase students' understanding of the mechanisms behind saturating effects in predator-prey scenarios. The proposed lesson is recommended for inclusion in courses that address…

These notes discuss several related problems in geometry that can be explored in a dynamic geometry environment. The problems involve an interesting property of hexagons.

Pole vaulting, the aim of which is to jump over a crossbar with the help of a long flexible pole, is considered to be one of the most complicated and technically demanding motions in track and field athletics. Pole vault performance is basically influenced by the energy exchange between the vaulter and pole. It depends on the sprinting, jumping…

Mathematical modeling involves using mathematics to represent, analyze, and make predictions or decisions about real- world situations. Garfunkel and Montgomery (2016) elaborate on six components of the mathematical modeling process, including identifying the problem, making assumptions and identifying variables, doing the math, analyzing and…

Harvesting models based on ordinary differential equations are commonly used in the fishery industry and wildlife management to model the evolution of a population depleted by harvest mortality. We present a project consisting of a series of scenarios based on fishery harvesting models to teach the application of theoretical concepts learned in a…

We present noncompetitive adsorption as "particles in a box with one sticky wall." We start with a general model that can be modeled as a simple ordinary differential equation (ODE). To verify the ODE students run a computer simulation. The ODE's solution imperfectly fits the simulation's data. This leads to the diffusion partial…