This paper reports the results of a research exploring the mathematical connections of pre-university students while they solving tasks which involving rates of change. We assume mathematical connections as a cognitive process through which a person finds real relationships between two or more ideas, concepts, definitions, theorems, procedures,…

In this paper, we report on an experimental activity for discussing the concepts of speed, instantaneous speed and acceleration, generally introduced in first year university courses of calculus or physics. Rather than developing the ideas of calculus and using them to explain these basic concepts for the study of motion, we led 82 first year…

Galileo dropped cannonballs from the leaning tower of Pisa to demonstrate something about falling bodies. Gauss was a giant of mathematics and physics who made unparalleled contributions to both fields. More contemporary (and not a person), the Green Monster is the left-field wall at the home of the Boston Red Sox, Fenway Park. Measuring 37 feet…

This article presents an application of standard undergraduate ODE techniques to a modern engineering problem, that of using a tuned mass damper to control the vibration of a skyscraper. This material can be used in any ODE course in which the students have been familiarized with basic spring-mass models, resonance, and linear systems of ODEs.…

For a given orbital period and eccentricity, we determine the maximum time lapse between the winter solstice and the spring equinox on a planet. In addition, given an axial precession path, we determine the effects on the seasons. This material can be used at various levels to illustrate ideas such as periodicity, eccentricity, polar coordinates,…

This document contains the third volume of the proceedings of the 30th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. Conference presentations are centered around the theme "Mathematics at the Centre." This volume features 60 research reports by presenters with last names beginning between Ead and Kou:…