Explores the concept of democratic education in the context of mathematics teaching relating to issues concerning democratic citizenship in modern democratic societies and ways of teaching which reflect democratic values. Claims that most mathematics is done in isolation with little social support for its learning. Contains 30 references. (ASK)

Discusses students' preconceptions of randomness and offers an alternative way to think about the concept using the idea of complexity. That is, the randomness of a sequence can be measured by the difficulty of encoding it. Methods of judging complexity and implications for teaching are discussed. (Contains 30 references.) (MKR)

Reports on the implementation of a four-year project exploring effective and alternative assessment items in a primary mathematics education course. Provides a rationale for using posters in preservice education and discusses the development of criteria for effective posters. Concludes with a practical recommendation for the implementation of…

The Smith Report has generated central questions about the mathematics education of UK adolescents. This paper highlights the close match between the goals of school mathematics, adolescence and exploratory pedagogy. This is contrasted with the prescriptive nature of current regimes. In particular, without careful attention to pedagogy it is…

Examines the role of a mentor to a group of mid-career mathematics teachers in order to better understand how mentoring practices influence teacher learning. Concludes that the mentees' perception of the mentor as problem solver or evaluator of performance learning was inhibited, whereas perception of the mentor and mentee relationship established…

Computers were invented to help mathematicians perform long and complicated calculations more efficiently. By the time that a computing area became a familiar space in primary and secondary schools, the initial motivation for computer use had been submerged in the many other functions that modern computers now accomplish. Not only the mathematics…

A conception of invalidity as bias is related to content validity for standardized achievement tests. A method of estimating content bias for each of three content domains (a priori, curricular, and instructional) based on the specification of a content taxonomy is also proposed. (Author/CM)

Describes female math underachievement and counseling or teaching techniques being implemented on college campuses to alleviate math anxiety. Students derive unique benefits from being taught research and statistics courses by female professors. To be effective, female professors must embody distinct feminist roles and perspectives. Specific…

Discusses, analyzes, and provides anecdotes about the calculus reform movement, in general, and the experimental, undergraduate calculus classes at Duke University, in particular. (JJK)

Details the planning and the outcomes for an undergraduate seminar course that introduced students to journal articles and graduate level texts pertaining to theoretical computer science. Included are useful guides for students that provide basic techniques for reading mathematical papers, and that lead students through the process of generating…

This document contains 22 papers presented at an international congress on mathematical education. An introductory report describes the work of the theme group, "Mathematics for All," motivated by the move to universal elementary education in developing countries, the move to universal secondary education in industrialized countries, and…

Describes the duties and attitudes of graduate teaching assistants who participated in a mentoring program, as well as the assessment of this program, which was instituted as a supervisory alternative to the lecture/recitation program through which graduate teaching assistants have traditionally accumulated the accreditation requirement to teach…

The difficulties and misconceptions that many students experience when learning to visualize graphs of functions are discussed. Specifically, the inability to make accurate connections between symbolic and graphical representations, the lack of understanding about scale and scaling, and the confusion caused by transformations are examined with…

This paper addresses the demands for change in the teaching and learning of mathematics in the schools of America. Many of the demands stem from the way rapid changes in information technology have altered our economic and social culture. In particular, these technological changes have changed both mathematics and its applications. Given these…

Most mathematics anxiety has its roots in the teaching and teachers of mathematics. Because people generally are not math anxious before going to school, an examination of the previous statement proves to be well founded. This article reviews the literature and discusses different ways that teachers may help to prevent their students from becoming…