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Report on the Conference of History of Mathematics & Teaching of Mathematics with Special Subject Ethno-mathematics: Research in History of Mathematics & Teaching of Mathematics : University of Miskolc, 18–21 May, 2006, Miskolc, Hungary
437-449Views:39The 4th Conference on History of Mathematics & Teaching of Mathematics with Special Subject Ethno-mathematics was organized at the University of Miskolc (Hungary). The aim of the conference was to present aspects of the History of Mathematics and Ethno-mathematics, including its impact on the Teaching of Mathematics.
Its motto was: Mathematics – a common language for Europe for thousand years.
There were 21 presentations, a poster lecture (J. Kolumbán, University of Cluj, Romania) and an exhibition made by students of Eötvös University, Budapest (R. Tanács, K. Varga).
After a short historical introduction we present 19 abstracts and the poster lecture. -
Report on the Conference of History of Mathematics and Teaching of Mathematics: research in History of Mathematics and Teaching of Mathematics : University of Szeged 19-23 May, 2010, Szeged, Hungary
319-338Views:40The 6th Conference on the History of Mathematics and Teaching of Mathematics was held in Szeged (Hungary). Its motto reads as:
Mathematics – a common language for Europe for thousand years.
The aim of the conference was to present aspects of History of Mathematics, including its impact on Teaching of Mathematics, to provide a forum to meet each other, and to give an opportunity for young researchers to present their results in these fields. University colleagues, students, graduate students and other researchers were invited. The programme of the Conference included talks and posters. The abstracts of the lectures and the posters are presented in this report. There were 24 presentations and poster lectures. -
Connections between discovery learning through the Pósa Method and the secondary school leaving examination in three Hungarian mathematics classrooms
67-85Views:219The Pósa Method is a guided discovery learning method that has been used in Hungarian education in the form of extracurricular activities for "gifted" mathematics students. A four-year experiment implemented the method in three more "average" classrooms. This article reports on the relationship between the Pósa Method and the standardized secondary school leaving mathematics exam (Matura Exam in short) in Hungary. Data consists of students' survey responses, teacher interviews, and exam results from the three Hungarian classrooms who took part in the four-year experiment. We identify aspects of the Pósa Method that can benefit and hinder exam performance. In addition, we find that learning through the Pósa Method for the four years of high school has adequately prepared students for the exam.
Subject Classification: 97D44, 97D54, 97D64
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Heuristic arguments and rigorous proofs in secondary school education
167-184Views:37In this paper we are going to discuss some possible applications of the mechanical method, especially the lever principle, in order to formulate heuristic conjectures related to the volume of three-dimensional solids. In the secondary school educational processes the heuristic arguments are no less important than the rigorous mathematical proofs. Between the ancient Greek mathematicians Archimedes was the first who made heuristic conjectures with the methods of Mechanics and proved them with the rigorous rules of Mathematics, in a period, when the methods of integration were not known. For a present day mathematician (or a secondary school mathematics teacher) the tools of the definite integral calculus are available in order to calculate the volume of three dimensional bodies, such as paraboloids, ellipsoids, segments of a sphere or segments of an ellipsoid. But in the secondary school educational process, it is also interesting to make heuristic conjectures by the use of the Archimedean method. It can be understood easily, but it is beyond the normal secondary school curriculum, so we recommend it only to the most talented students or to the secondary schools with advanced mathematical teaching programme. -
A retrospective look at discovery learning using the Pósa Method in three Hungarian secondary mathematics classrooms
183-202Views:192While the Pósa Method was originally created for mathematical talent management through extracurricular activities, three "average" public secondary school classrooms in Hungary have taken part in a four-year experiment to implement the Pósa Method, which is based on guided discovery learning of mathematics. In this paper, we examine the students' and teachers' reflections on the Pósa Method, and how student perspectives have changed between their first and last year of high school. Overall, teachers and students had a positive experience with the Pósa Method. Furthermore, our research indicated that this implementation has met several objectives of the Pósa Method, including enjoyment of mathematics and autonomous thinking.
Subject Classification: 97D40
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Conventions of mathematical problems and their solutions in Hungarian secondary school leaving exams
137-146Views:9Collecting and analyzing the conventions indispensable for interpreting mathematical problems and their solutions correctly assist successful education and objective evaluation. Many professional and didactic questions arose while collecting and analyzing these conventions, which needed clarification, therefore the materials involved concisely in the conventions enrich both the theory and practice of mathematics teaching. In our research we concentrated mainly on the problems and solutions of the Hungarian school leaving examinations at secondary level in mathematics. -
Square root in secondary school
59-72Views:113Although in Hungary, for decades, the calculation method of the square root of a real number is not in the mathematics curriculum, many of the taught concepts and procedures can be carried out using different square root finding methods. These provide an opportunity for students in secondary school to practice and deepen understand the compulsory curriculum. This article presents seven square-root- nding methods, currently teachable in secondary schools.
Subject Classification: A33, A34, F53, F54
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Comments on the remaining velocity project with reports of school-experiments
117-133Views:16The aim of this article is to introduce different possible solutions to the exercise referring to the calculation of "remaining velocity". We explain the possible approaches to the problem with the help of either using the tools of mathematics or other subjects. During the past few years, we have made Hungarian and Slovakian secondary school students solve the exercise, choosing from both children of average and of high abilities. The experince has shown that very few students were able to solve the problem by themselves, but with the help of their teachers, the exercise and the solution has been an eye-opener experience to all of them. A lot of students were even considering to drive more carefully in the future after getting their driving licenses. -
Zur Veränderung des Stellenwertesvon Beweisen im Mathematikunterricht - eine Analyse von ungarischen Abiturprüfungenzwischen 1981 und 2020
35-55Views:78Proofs are not just an essential, crucial part of mathematics as a science, they also have a long tradition in Hungarian mathematics classrooms. However, the school in general and, mathematics education in particular, have been changed in the last few decades enormously, including the final secondary school examinations in mathematics. The current paper's main goal is to answer the question, how has been changed the weight and the content of reasoning and especially proving tasks in the relevant examinations.
Subject Classification: 97E54, 97D64, 97U44
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The role of computer in the process of solving of mathematical problems (results of research)
67-80Views:39We would like to present results of an almost two years investigations about the role computer in the process of solving of mathematical problems. In these investigations took part 35 students of the secondary school (generalists) in the age 17–19 years. Each of these students solved following problem:
Find all values of the parameter m so that the function
f(x) = |mx + 1| − |2x − m| is:
a) bounded,
b) bounded only from the bottom,
c) bounded only from above,
first without a computer and next with a special computer program. We would like to show results of these researches. -
Guided Discovery in Hungarian Education Using Problem Threads: The Pósa Method in Secondary Mathematics Classrooms
51-67Views:118In Hungary, ‘guided discovery’ refers to instruction in which students learn mathematical concepts through task sequences that foster mathematical thinking. A prominent figure of guided discovery is Lajos Pósa, who developed his method to teach gifted students. Rather than teaching mathematics through thematic blocks, the Pósa Method employs webs of interconnected problem threads in which problems are built on each other, and different threads are presented simultaneously, so that students work on problems from multiple threads at the same time. It was found that this method has been successful as extracurricular training for gifted students since the 1980s; however since 2017, as part of an ongoing research, the method has been applied to mainstream curriculum in two public secondary school classrooms. The present paper examines the design and implementation processes of problem threads in this public secondary school context.
Subject Classification: 97D40
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Straight line or line segment? Students’ concepts and their thought processes
327-336Views:107The article focuses on students’ understanding of the concept of a straight line. Attention is paid to whether students of various ages work with only part of a straight line shown or if they are aware that it can be extended. The presented results were obtained by a qualitative analysis of tests given to nearly 1,500 Czech students. The paper introduces the statistics of students’ solutions, and discusses the students’ thought processes. The results show that most of the tested students, even after completing upper secondary school, are not aware that a straight line can be extended. Finally, we present some recommendations for fostering the appropriate concept of a straight line in mathematics teaching.
Subject Classification: 97C30, 97D70, 97G40
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Report of Meeting Researches in Didactics of Mathematics and Computer Sciences: January 27-29, 2017 Budapest, Hungary
109-128Views:17The meeting Researches in Didactics of Mathematics and Computer Sciences was held in Budapest, Hungary from the 27th to the 29th of January, 2017 at Eötvös Lorand University. It was organized by the Doctoral School of Mathematical and Computational Sciences of University of Debrecen and the Department of Mathematics Teaching and Education Centre Institute of Mathematics.
The 62 participants – including 43 lecturers and 20 PhD students – came from 7 countries, 22 cities and represented 35 institutions of higher and secondary education. -
Teaching of financial mathematics using Maple
289-301Views:62The paper deals with the application of computer algebra system Maple in teaching of financial mathematics. In the Czech Republic financial mathematics is included in the curricula of grammar and secondary school. Therefore, this subject is also taught at pedagogical faculties. Most concepts of financial mathematics are difficult to understand for students. In the paper we show the ways of facilitation understanding these concepts using tools of Maple. The main result is in preparing special maplets which enable interactive studying of the principles of such concepts. Each of these maplets deals with particular financial problem from real life, e.g. mortgage credit, consumer credit, credit card etc. -
Report of Meeting Researches in Didactics of Mathematics and Computer Sciences, April 1-3, 2022 Baja, Hungary
135-155Views:157The meeting Researches in Didactics of Mathematics and Computer Sciences was held in Baja, Hungary, at Eötvös József College, from the 1st to the 3th of April, 2022. It was organized by the Doctoral School of Mathematical and Computational Sciences of the University of Debrecen and by Eötvös József College. The 62 participants - including 18 PhD students - came from 8 countries and represented 26 institutions of higher and secondary education. There were 3 plenary and 40 session talks in the program.
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Teaching polygons in the secondary school: a four country comparative study
29-65Views:45This study presents the analysis of four sequences of videotaped lessons on polygons in lower secondary schools (grades 7 and 8) taught by four different teachers in four different countries (Belgium, Flanders, England, Hungary and Spain). Our study is a part of the METE project (Mathematics Educational Traditions in Europe). The aims and methodology of the project are described briefly in the introduction. In the next section of this paper we describe various perspectives on teaching and learning polygons which were derived from the literature, concerning the objectives, conceptual aspects and didactic tools of the topic. The next two sections introduce the main outcomes of our study, a quantitative analysis of the collected data and a qualitative description linked to the perspectives on teaching polygons. We conclude by discussing some principal ideas related to the theoretical and educational significance of this research work. -
Development of high school students' geometric thinking with particular emphasis on mathematically talented students
93-110Views:18We carried out research using Zalman Usiskin's test (1982) and also a modified version of his test to see how the geometric approach of secondary school students (Grades 8-10) specialized in mathematics had changed. We observed two groups of students for several years. Our aim was to find a relation between the change of the mean of the van Hiele level of the students and the structure of the geometry syllabus. We also observed if there was a change in the geometric approach of the students during the summer holidays and if so, in what way it changed. -
Teaching of old historical mathematics problems with ICT tools
13-24Views:22The aim of this study is to examine how teachers can use ICT (information and communications technology) tools and the method of blended learning to teach mathematical problem solving. The new Hungarian mathematics curriculum (NAT) emphasizes the role of history of science, therefore we chose a topic from the history of mathematics, from the geometry of triangles: Viviani's Theorem and its problem field. We carried out our teaching experiments at a secondary school with 14-year-old students. Students investigated open geometrical problems with the help of a dynamic geometric software (GeoGebra). Their research work was similar to the historical way. -
Cooperative learning in teaching mathematics: the case of addition and subtraction of integers
117-136Views:33In the course of teaching and learning mathematics, many of the problems are caused by the operations with integers. My paper is a presentation of an experiment by which I tried to make the acquisition of these operations easier through the use of cooperative methods and representations. The experiment was conducted in The Lower-Secondary School of Paptamási from Romania, in the school year 2009-2010. I present the results of the experiment. -
Fehleranalyse beim Lösen von offenen Aufgaben Ergebnisse einer empirischen Studie in der Grundschule
83-113Views:18Open problems play a key role in mathematics education, also in primary school. However, children in primary school work in many relations in a different way from learner in secondary school. Therefore, the (possibly) first confrontation with an open task could be problematical. Within the framework of an international paper and pencil test it was examined how far children of primary school notice the openness of a task and which mistakes they do during working on that task. In particularly are meant by openness different interpretations of the task, which all lead to a set of numbers with more than one element as a result. For evaluation, a common classification system was adapted by slightly modification of the original system. -
Nice tiling, nice geometry!?!
269-280Views:39The 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. -
Zoltán Szvetits (1929-2014): legendary teacher, Zoltán Szvetits passed away
287-288Views:13The legendary mathematics teacher of Secondary School Fazekas in Debrecen, Zoltán Szvetits passed away on 5th November 2014, at the age of 84. Beginning in 1954 he had been teaching here almost forty years. His pupils and the society of teachers have lost an outstanding teacher character. This secondary school has been well known for decades about its special mathematics class with 10 math lessons a week. This special class was designed and established by Zoltán Szvetits. -
Realizing the problem-solving phases of Pólya in classroom practice
219-232Views:138When teaching mathematical problem-solving is mentioned, the name of Pólya György inevitably comes to mind. Many problem-solving lessons are planned using Pólya's steps and helping questions, and teachers often rely on his heuristics even if their application happens unconsciously. In this article, we would like to examine how the two phases, Making a plan and Looking back, can be realized in a secondary school mathematics lesson. A case study was designed to observe and analyse a lesson delivered using cooperative work.
Subject Classification: 97B10, 97C70, 97D40, 97D50
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Didactical remarks on the changes in the requirements of the matriculation exam in Mathematics in Hungary
95-110Views:5Students within the Hungarian education system typically take a matriculation exam to obtain a secondary education certificate, which also serves as a prerequisite for university admission. Public education is regulated at different levels. One of its most fundamental elements is the National Core Curriculum, the current version of which came into force in September 2020. It is crucial to adapt the requirements of the matriculation exam in mathematics to this and ensure transparent communication about the changes. Regarding this, there exists a sample paper that contains tasks that one can reasonably expect in the actual exam in the spring. Since I have been working as a private math tutor for almost a decade and have been preparing students for the matriculation exam since then, I intend to highlight the most outstanding features from a didactic point of view based on the analysis of this sample paper.
Subject Classification: 97A30, 97B10, 97B70, 97D60, 97U40
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Maximum and minimum problems in secondary school education
81-98Views:32The aim of this paper is to offer some possible ways of solving extreme value problems by elementary methods with which the generally available method of differential calculus can be avoided. We line up some problems which can be solved by the usage of these elementary methods in secondary school education. The importance of the extremum problems is ignored in the regular curriculum; however they are in the main stream of competition problems – therefore they are useful tools in the selection and development of talented students. The extremum problem-solving by elementary methods means the replacement of the methods of differential calculus (which are quite stereotyped) by the elementary methods collected from different fields of Mathematics, such as elementary inequalities between geometric, arithmetic and square means, the codomain of the quadratic and trigonometric functions, etc. In the first part we show some patterns that students can imitate in solving similar problems. These patterns could also provide some ideas for Hungarian teachers on how to introduce this topic in their practice. In the second part we discuss the results of a survey carried out in two secondary schools and we formulate our conclusion concerning the improvement of students' performance in solving these kind of problems.