Articles

• The application of modelling tasks in the classroom – why and how? with reflections on an EU teacher training course

  231-244

  Gabriella Ambrus

  Ödön Vancsó

  Balázs Koren

  Views:

  36

  The aim of the article is to present the concept of mathematical modelling in the classroom. LEMA (Learning and Education in and through Modelling and Applications) was an EU Comenius funded project in which mathematics educators from six countries worked to produce materials to support teachers' professional development. A group of voluntary Hungarian mathematics teachers were taught modelling for a year and we were and still are given feedback continously. The article leads us from the general concept of mathematical modelling to its practice in the classroom. It presents difficulties that teachers have to face when doing modelling lessons and their students' reactions are also mentioned. We present sample tasks from the material of the teacher training course as well as tasks that were created by the participants.

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• Teaching puzzle-based learning: development of transferable skills

  245-268

  Nickolas Falkner

  Raja Sooriamurthi

  Zbigniew Michalewicz

  Views:

  44

  While computer science and engineering students are trained to recognise familiar problems with known solutions, they may not be sufficiently prepared to address novel real-world problems. A successful computer science graduate does far more than just program and we must train our students to reach the required levels of analytical and computational thinking, rather than hoping that it will just 'develop'. As a step in this direction, we have created and experimented with a new first-year level course, Puzzle-based Learning (PBL), that is aimed at getting students to think about how to frame and solve unstructured problems. The pedagogical goal is increase students' mathematical awareness and general problem solving skills by employing puzzles, which are educational, engaging, and thought provoking. In this paper we continue sharing our experiences in teaching such a course. Whereas a brief discussion on our pedagogical objectives were covered in the first paper together with the material of the first of two lectures on pattern recognition, this follow-up paper presents the material of the second of two lectures, in which additional exercises are discussed to reinforce the lesson. Along the way we provide a glimpse of some foundational ideas of computer science such as incomputability and general system development strategies such as incremental and iterative reasoning. This paper discusses the outcomes of PBL courses, which include expected improvement in the overall results achieved by students who have undertaken PBL courses, compared to those students who have not.

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• Nice tiling, nice geometry!?!

  269-280

  Emil Molnár

  Views:

  39

  The squared papers in our booklets, or the squared (maybe black and white) pavements in the streets arise an amusing problem: How to deform the side segments of the square pattern, so that the side lines further remain equal (congruent) to each other? More precisely, we require that each congruent transformation of the new pattern, mapping any deformed side segment onto another one, leaves the whole (infinitely extended) pattern invariant (unchanged).
  It turns out that there are exactly 14 types of such edge-transitive (or so-called isotoxal) quadrangle tilings, sometimes with two different forms (e.g. black and white) of quadrangles (see Figure 2). Such a collection of tiling can be very nice, perhaps also useful for decorative pavements in streets, in flats, etc.
  I shall sketch the solution of the problem that leads to fine (and important) mathematical concepts (as barycentric triangulation of a polygonal tiling, adjacency operations, adjacency matrix, symmetry group of a tiling, D-symbol, etc). All these can be discussed in an enjoyable way, e.g. in a special mathematical circle of a secondary school, or in more elementary form as visually attractive figures in a primary school as well.
  My colleague, István Prok [11] developed an attractive computer program on the Euclidean plane crystallographic groups with a nice interactive play (for free download), see our Figures 3-5.
  A complete classification of such Euclidean plane tilings (not only with quadrangles) can be interesting for university students as well, hopefully also for the Reader (Audience). This is why I shall give some references, where you find also other ones.
  Further problems indicate the efficiency of this theory now. All these demonstrate the usual procedure of mathematics and the (teaching) methodology as well: We start with a concrete problem, then extend it further, step-by-step by creating new manipulations, concepts and methods. So we get a theory at certain abstraction level. Then newer problems arise, etc.
  This paper is an extended version of the presentation and the conference paper [7]. The author thanks the Organizers, especially their head Professor Margita Pavlekovic for the invitation, support and for the kind atmosphere of the conference.

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• Teachers and the interactive whiteboards

  281-298

  Piroska Biró

  Views:

  32

  The spread of IWB (Interactive WhiteBoard) around the world changes, reforms and modernizes the traditional teaching methods. We can find these new ICT devices in more and more schools in Hungary as well and the use of it is getting widespread in everyday teaching. The teachers have the greatest role in the proper use of IWB during the lessons and they are also responsible for providing students with creative and motivating tasks lesson by lesson. In the following research, the advantages of the IWB are highlighted, the difficulties of its usage and the teachers' attitude towards the new ICT devices by asking 205 teachers from different primary and secondary schools. The results are mainly based on questionnaires.

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• A differentiated e-learning teaching program in mathematics

  299-308

  Nam Nguyen-Danh

  Trung Tran

  Views:

  48

  The intelligent online interactions between students and teacher are still not assured because of the fact that a learning management system could not play the role of a teacher in producing a chain of deduction. Furthermore, managing a course in existing e-learning systems has not yet guaranteed the differentiated teaching because it does not enable students to appropriately learn at their corresponding levels. In this paper, we would like to introduce a differentiated e-learning course in Vietnam. We also present some designing principles for such courses and propose some typical situations in teaching mathematics aimed at helping high school students individualize their online learning in mathematics.

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• Virtual worlds in education – best practice, design and research considerations

  309-323

  Márta Turcsányi-Szabó

  Ladislav Csízi

  Ladislav Végh

  Views:

  19

  The article briefly describes and characterizes the virtual worlds, different kinds of virtual worlds and possibilities of their use in education. The virtual worlds beyond the passive learning opportunities offer active, constructive and collaborative learning possibilities as well. In the middle section of this article we present the most common ways of different kinds of learning methods, which are illustrated by practical examples as well. In the final sections of the article we deal with the design research approach of 3D virtual worlds.

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• Metadata and education

  325-343

  Erzsébet Forczek

  Views:

  38

  This article is a (possible) conceptual educational model, which introduces data representation, information storage and retrieval possibilities on the Web in a way analogous to the levels of organization of metadata.
  The model uses the traditional library and information systems as a starting point, referring to the levels and types of information organization, and describes directions of its development. General acquaintance with the dominant organizational levels and types helps to understand the information organization on the internet, the coexistence of both structured and unstructured elements, the closedness and deficiencies of the content of information, and also helps to find possible ways of correcting these deficiencies. One of the main advantages of model-driven approaches is that they, by using the well-known classical systems, make tangible the development of physical and content data organization types and levels of organization of information for medical students that usually do not possess informatics knowledge.
  The conceptual model presented in details in the article can provide a basis for a general introduction to metadata and to develop curricula equally appropriate for traditional face to face classes, trainings and online courses.

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• The theory of functional equations in high school education

  345-360

  Dorottya Bessenyei

  Views:

  45

  In this paper, we are going to discuss some possible applications of the theory of functional equations in high school education. We would like to line up some problems, the solution of which by functional equations are mostly not new results – they have also been treated in [1] and [2] –, although their demonstrations in high school can show a new way in teaching of talented students. The area of the rectangle, the calculating method of compound interest, binomial coefficients, Euler's formula, the scalar product and the vector product of vectors – we are looking for the reasons behind the well-known formulas. Finally, we are going to give a functional equation in connection with mean values. It can be understood easily, but its solution is beyond the high school curriculum, so we advise this part only to the most talented students.

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• Efficient language teaching software in a multimedia context

  361-374

  László T. Nagy

  Ágnes Stóka

  Views:

  37

  In this article I deal with the efficiency of multimedia teaching programs, analyzing possibilities for their improvement in the field of language teaching. This research has been carried out with the use of the latest technologies, language teaching software, internet based language teaching applications, digital dictionaries, online content, and the latest results from the field of computational linguistics. The goal of my research is to create a general model that serves and supports various kinds of approaches to improving efficiency; I cannot attempt to present a complete, detailed analytical review due to the complexity and size of this topic. However, my opinion is that by considering and understanding the theoretical aspects of the subject, and supported by certain important ideas, we will be able to achieve remarkable improvements in the field of learning efficiency and knowledge retention in the language teaching and learning process that might lead to outstanding results.

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• Mathematics in Good Will Hunting I: the mathematicians in Good Will Hunting

  375-388

  József Korándi

  Gabriella Pluhár

  Views:

  48

  This is the first part of a three paper long series exploring the role of mathematicians and of the mathematical content occurring in popular media. In particular, we analyze the movie Good Will Hunting. In the present paper we investigate stereotypes about mathematicians living in the society and appearing in Good Will Hunting.

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• Learning and teaching combinatorics with Sage

  389-398

  István Vajda

  Views:

  52

  Learning Mathematics is not an easy task, since this subject works with especially abstract concepts and sophisticated deductions. Many students lose their interest in the subject due to lack of success. Computer algebra systems (CAS) provide new ways of learning and teaching Mathematics. Numerous teachers use them to demonstrate concepts, deductions and algorithms and to make learning process more interesting especially in higher education. It is an even more efficient way to improve the learning process, if students can use the system themselves, which helps them to practice the curriculum.
  Sage is a free, open-source math software system that supports research and teaching algebra, analysis, geometry, number theory, cryptography, numerical computation, and related areas. I have been using it for several years to aid the instruction of Discrete Mathematics at Óbuda University. In this article I show some examples how representations provided by this system can help in teaching combinatorics.

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