The purpose of this study is to investigate whether or not students' understanding of mathematical content typically covered in calculus courses is enhanced by using the TINspire CAS instead of the TI-89. The study was conducted over two phases at a mid-size university in the northeastern United States in Calculus I and Accelerated Calculus I. In…

This mixed qualitative and quantitative methods study addressed the effect of technology on college algebra and survey of calculus students' understanding. This research study was conducted in fall 2016 on eight college algebra classes with a total of 315 students, and in summer 2017, on two survey of calculus classes with a total of 40 students…

Graphing function is an important issue in mathematics education due to its use in various areas of mathematics and its potential roles for students to enhance learning mathematics. The use of some graphing software assists students' learning during graphing functions. However, the display of graphs of functions that students sketched by hand may…

Activities for Students appears five times each year in Mathematics Teacher, promoting student-centered activities that teachers can adapt for use in their own classroom. In the course of the activities presented here, students will "look for and make use of structure" by observing algebraic patterns in the power rule and "use…

Two decades ago, in an award-winning paper, Dan Kennedy (1995) likened learning mathematics to climbing a tree, for which there was only one way to climb: up a large and solid trunk. In the limited time that is available, many students give up the climb, impede others, fall off the trunk, or fail to climb the tree sufficiently well. In the case of…

Although the mathematics community has long accepted the concept of limit as the foundation of modern Calculus, the concept of limit itself has been marginalized in undergraduate Calculus education. In this paper, I analyze the strategy of conceptual conflict to teach the concept of limit with the aid of an online tool--Desmos graphing calculator.…

Logarithms continue to play an important role in mathematics (most significantly in calculus), science, and engineering. It is therefore important for students to understand logarithms as real numbers as well as the characteristics of logarithmic functions. Exploration of challenges in understanding logarithms as real numbers and logarithmic…

The basis of this intervention study is a distinction between numerical calculus and relational calculus. The former refers to numerical calculations and the latter to the analysis of the quantitative relations in mathematical problems. The inverse relation between addition and subtraction is relevant to both kinds of calculus, but so far research…

This study examined ways in which students make use of a graphing calculator and how use relates to comfort and understanding with mathematical symbols. Analysis involved examining students' words and actions in problem solving to identify evidence of algebraic insight. Findings suggest that some symbols and symbolic structures had strong…

This study highlights ways in which generative activities may be coupled with network-based technologies in the context of teacher preparation to enhance preservice teachers' cognizance of how their own experience as students provides a blueprint for the learning environments they may need to generate in their future classrooms. In this study, the…

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the use of TI-Nspire[TM] could enhance the teaching and learning of calculus. A conceptual framework for the use of TI-Nspire[TM] for learning calculus in a mathematics classroom is proposed that describes the interactions among the students, TI-Nspire[TM], and the learning tasks, and how they lead…

Technology can help develop understanding of abstract mathematical concepts through visualisation and graphic representation. The teaching and learning of calculus can be challenging as it involves abstract and complex ideas. The purpose of this study was to investigate how students and teachers attempt to use TI-Nspire, the latest graphing…

This case study documents the struggles and successes encountered by a pre-calculus teacher while using Classroom Connectivity Technology (CCT) daily in her community college mathematics course. CCT refers to a wireless communication system that connects a teacher's computer with an individual student's handheld calculator and has been associated…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the modeling of technology by mathematics professors in two universities in teaching required courses for secondary level pre-service mathematics teachers. Six professors participated in this case study. Their responses were documented in pre- and post-interviews and data were gathered from…

In algebra and precalculus courses, students are often asked to find extreme values of polynomial functions in the context of solving an applied problem; but without the notion of derivative, something is lost. Either the functions are reduced to quadratics, since students know the formula for the vertex of a parabola, or solutions are…