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Teaching of old historical mathematics problems with ICT tools
13-24Views:166The 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. -
"How to be well-connected?" An example for instructional process planning with Problem Graphs
145-155Views:187Teachers’ design capacity at work is in the focus of didactical research worldwide, and fostering this capacity is unarguably a possible turning point in the conveyance of mathematical knowledge. In Hungary, the tradition hallmarked by Tamás Varga is particularly demanding towards teachers as they are supposed to be able to plan their long-term processes very carefully. In this contribution, an extensive teaching material designed in the spirit of this tradition will be presented from the field of Geometry. For exposing its inner structure, a representational tool, the Problem Graph is introduced. The paper aims to demonstrate that this tool has potential for analyzing existing resources, helping teachers to reflect on their own preparatory and classroom work, and supporting the creation of new designs.
Subject Classification: 97D40, 97D50, 97D80, 97G10, 97U30
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The Frobenius exchange problem on competitions and in classroom
203-218Views:41Let a_1, ..., a_n be relatively prime positive integers. The still unsolved Frobenius problem asks for the largest integer which cannot be represented as Σ x_i a_i with non-negative integers xi, and also for the number of non-representable positive integers. These and several related questions have been investigated by many prominent mathematicians, including Paul Erdős, and a wide range of partial results were obtained by various interesting methods differing both in character and difficulty. In this paper we give a self-contained introduction to this field through problems and comments suitable also for treatment in a class of talented students. -
Teaching student teachers: various components of a complex task
55-72Views:76In this paper we summarize various aspects of teacher training and teaching student teachers (mainly concerning teachers of upper secondary school and High school). We stress several hints and recommendations to better achieve the obviously important aim: they should learn doing, understanding and teaching mathematics!
Of course, our view is particularly influenced by European traditions, but we think most of them equally apply to teacher training and teaching student teachers elsewhere. Neither is the paper meant to give an all sided overview about the problem field of teacher education as a whole, nor does it contain provocative, completely new ideas. We just want to describe our view of some aspects, based primarily on our personal experience in the mentioned field.