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• The transition problem in Hungary: curricular approach

  1-16

  Éva Erdélyi

  András Dukán

  Csaba Szabó

  Views:

  93

  The curricular background of the transition problem from highschool to universty is analysed in Hungary. While students finish their mathematical studies successfully at highschool, pass their final exams, this knowledge seems to disappear at their first year at university. We investigate the mathematical knowledge expected by the Hungarian universities and compare it to expectations of the National Core Curriculum. Based on the levelling tests of four universities we created a seven problem test for highschool students containing very basic problems required both by the universities and the National Core Curriculum. We analyse the results of the test.

  Subject Classification: D34, D35

• What can we learn from Tamás Varga’s work regarding the arithmetic-algebra transition?

  39-50

  Gyöngyi Szanyi

  Zsuzsanna Jánvári

  Views:

  54

  Tamás Varga’s Complex Mathematics Education program plays an important role in Hungarian mathematics education. In this program, attention is given to the continuous “movement” between concrete and abstract levels. In the process of transition from arithmetic to algebra, the learner moves from a concrete level to a more abstract level. In our research, we aim to track the transition process from arithmetic to algebra by studying the 5-8-grader textbooks and teacher manuals edited under Tamás Varga's supervision. For this, we use the appearance of “working backward” and “use an equation” heuristic strategies in the examined textbooks and manuals, which play a central role in the mentioned process.

  Subject Classification: 97-01, 97-03, 97D50

• Fostering Engineering freshmen’s shifts of attention by using Matlab LiveScript for solving mathematical tasks

  1-14

  Giovannina Albano

  Agnese Ilaria Telloni

  Views:

  24

  We designed an experimental path including a summative assessment phase, where engineering freshmen are involved in solving mathematical tasks by using Matlab LiveScripts. We analyzed the students’ answers to a questionnaire about their perceived impact of the use of Matlab on their way to solve mathematical tasks. The main result is that students show shifts of attention from computations to other aspects of problem solving, moving from an operational to a structural view of mathematics.

  Subject Classification: 97U70, 97H60