Teaching and Learning of Calculus

This survey focuses on the main trends in the field of calculus education. Despite their variety, the findings reveal a cornerstone issue that is strongly linked to the formalism of calculus concepts and to the difficulties it generates in the learning and teaching process. As a complement to the main text, an extended bibliography with some of the most important references on this topic is included. Since the diversity of the research in the field makes it difficult to produce an exhaustive state-of-the-art summary, the authors discuss recent developments that go beyond this survey and put forward new research questions

Policy Implications of Developing Mathematics Education Research

Researchers often pursue their own interesting and specific mathematics education research questions without engaging with the practical and policy issues that may have considerable bearing on mathematics education. The final chapter of this section deals with this situation by considering three interrelated themes: developments in education policy that have implications for mathematics education research; the potential for engaging the mathematics education community in pursuing research questions that have implications for policy; and the relevance, utility, and accumulation of mathematics education research findings to support policy and practice. In particular, questions are raised about the role of standards in the specifics of mathematics teaching and learning, and the challenges of making research professionally and publicly available in ways that might be used to inform the decisions and the practices of policy makers and teachers