In this discusses four different approaches used during a statistics tutorial of a group of first year undergraduates studying computer science related degrees at the University of Westminster UK. The four approaches were each implemented in an attempt to keep the students interested in the statistics topics delivered. It was found that “Chalk and Talk” (i.e. board work) was not the best form of imparting knowledge to the students of the group as determined by student analysing feedback forms and generally observing student behaviour and listening to student comments over a number of years delivering statistics topics. The duration of each tutorial was two hours. The teaching strategies adopted were: a) A class quiz. b) Group explanation of material to members of the individual’s group. c) Group explanation of material to members of the entire class. d) Students teaching at the front of the class. Each of the methods will now be discussed with the relative merits and defects included for a comparison. It was found that each method worked better at the end of each module when the students were more familiar with the topics introduced on the module.

In our experience of teaching Calculus to engineering undergraduates we have had to grapple with many different problems. A major hurdle has been students’ inability to appreciate the importance of the theory. In their view the theoretical part of mathematics is separate from the computing part. In general, students also believe that they can pass their exams even though they do not have a real understanding of the theory behind the problems they are required to solve. In an effort to surmount these difficulties we tried to find ways to make students better understand the theoretical part of Calculus. This paper describes our experience of teaching Calculus. It reports on the continuation of our previous research.

Problem-posing is recognized as an important component in the nature of mathematical thinking (Kilpatrick, 1987). More recently, there is an increased emphasis on giving students opportunities with problem posing in mathematics classroom (English& Grove, 1998). These research has shown that instructional activities as having students generate problems as a means of improving ability of problem solving and their attitude toward mathematics (Winograd, 1991). In this study, teaching Taxicab Geometry which is a non-Euclidean geometry is aimed to mathematics teacher candidates by means of computer game-Simcity- using real life problems posing. This studies’ participants are forty mathematics teacher candidates taking geometry course. Because of using Simcity computer game, this game is based on Taxicab Geometry. Firstly, students had been given Taxicab geometry theory for two weeks and then seperated six each of groups. Each of groups is wanted to posing problem and solving from real life problems at Taxicab geometry. In addition to, students applied to problem solving at Simcity computer game. Studens were model into Simcity game. They founded ideal city, healty village, university campus, holiday village, etc. interesting of each others.

Many countries are reporting of difficulties in exact education at schools: mathematics, informatics, physics etc. Various methods are proposed to awaken and preserve students’ interest in these disciplines. Among them, the simplification, accent on applications, avoiding of argumentation (especially in mathematics) etc. must be mentioned. As one of reasons for these approaches the growing amount of knowledge/skills to be acquired at school is often mentioned. In this paper we consider one of the possibilities to integrate partially teaching of important chapters of discrete mathematics and informatics not reducing the high educational standards. The approach is based on the identification and mastering general combinatorial principles underlying many topics in both disciplines. A special attention in the paper is given to the so-called “pigeonhole principle” and its generalizations. In folklore, this principle is usually formulated in the following way: “if there are n + 1 rabbits in n cages, you can find a cage with at least two rabbits in it“. Examples of appearances of this principle both in mathematics and in computer science are considered.

This paper describes some results of a research study on conjecturing and proving in a dynamic geometry environment (DGE), and it focuses on particular cognitive processes that seem to be induced by certain uses of tools available in Cabri (a particular DGE). Building on the work of Arzarello and Olivero (Arzarello et al., 1998, 2002; Olivero, 2002), we have conceived a model describing some cognitive processes that may occur during the production of conjectures and proofs in a DGE and that seem to be related to the use of specific dragging schemes, in particular to the use of the scheme we refer to as maintaining dragging. This paper contains a description of aspects of the theoretical model we have elaborated for describing such cognitive processes, with specific attention towards the role of the dragging schemes, and an example of how the model can be used to analyze students’ explorations.

The purpose of this paper is to present all participants of the Dresden Conference the digital School Journal Revista Escolar de la Olimpiada Iberoamericana de Matemática, online since May-June 2002, with lmost 16,000 subscribers at current issue number 32. Subscribers are based all over the world, but mostly in Spain, Portugal and Latin America.

GeoGebra is a free, open-source, and multi-platform software that combines dynamic geometry, algebra and calculus in one easy-to-use package. Students from middle-school to university can use it in classrooms and at home. In this workshop, we will introduce the features of GeoGebra with a special focus on not very common applications of a dynamic geometry program. We will inform about plans for developing training and research networks connected to GeoGebra. We can expect that at the time of the conference a spreadsheet will be integrated into GeoGebra which offers new ways teaching mathematics using the interplay between the features of a spreadsheet and the objects of dynamic geometry.

Miscellaneous examples of misleading statistical data or interpretation are presented in a form suitable for students in mathematics or Social Sciences during a first course of statistics. The aim is to promote critical thinking when confronted (mainly by the media or scientific papers) by information that is biased, incomplete, poorly defined, or deliberately oriented towards a preconceived target. Starting with the simple manipulation of Simpson paradox, the emphasis is put on the need for counfounding in the analysis of relationship between variables.

Mathematics learning seems to be a demanding and time-consuming task for many learners. Information and communication technology (ICT) is an attractive tool of learning for students at any level and it can provide an effective atmosphere for understanding mathematics. The question is how to combine mathematics teaching contents, approaches, curricula, and syllabus with new media. The key issue in European educational policy (and other countries as well) is exchange and sharing digital learning resources (learning objects) among countries. In order to accumulate the practice of various countries and use the best digital resources created by different countries, it is necessary to localize learning objects (LO). The paper deals with some problems connected with localization of LO, developed for mathematics education, and presents some solution. Software localization is mainly referred to as language translation (e.g., translation of user interface texts and help documents). However, there are many other important elements depending on the country and people who will use the localized software. In this paper, the main attention is paid to localization of learning objects used for teaching and learning mathematics.

We present several possible forms of mathematical competitions for University students. One of them is Blitz Mathematical Olympiad. It is a team competition, when all teams receive the same problem and are allotted 10-15 minutes to come up with a solution. This cycle is repeated 6-8 times with different problems. Modern Internet technologies allow us to organize Blitz Mathematical Olympiads for the teams which are in different cities and even countries.