Today\u27s Mathematics Students

A common mistake that undergraduate mathematics professors make when teaching is to assume that students are younger versions of themselves. Since many mathematics professors are above average in intelligence and were quite good students, the assumption that students are just like themselves can cause pedagogical difficulties (Krantz, 1993). To teach effectively, it is important to understand students. Yet, understanding today\u27s students is literally like bridging a generation gap (Hawk, 2005)

Today’s mathematics student: Take two

Current mathematics students are members of Generation Z, a generation proving to be quite different than previous ones. Generation Z has never known a time without Google, nor a time of safety. Generation Z has a declining tendency to even attend college. If they do attend college, their expectations need to be met to keep them engaged in mathematics. Professors will need to adjust pedagogy

Concealed Motives: Rethinking Fourteenth Amendment and Voting Rights Challenges to Felon Disenfranchisement

Felon disenfranchisement provisions are justified by many Americans under the principle that voting is a privilege to be enjoyed only by upstanding citizens. The provisions are intimately tied, however, to the country’s legacy of racism and systemic disenfranchisement and are at odds with the values of American democracy. In virtually every state, felon disenfranchisement provisions affect the poor and communities of color on a grossly disproportionate scale. Yet to date, most challenges to the provisions under the Equal Protection Clause and Voting Rights Act have been unsuccessful, frustrating proponents of re-enfranchisement and the disenfranchised alike. In light of those failures, is felon disenfranchisement here to stay? This Note contemplates that question, beginning with a comprehensive analysis of the history of felon disenfranchisement provisions in America, tracing their roots to the largescale effort to disenfranchise African Americans during Reconstruction, and identifying ways in which the racism of the past reverberates through practices of disenfranchisement in the present day. Applying this knowledge to understandings of prior case law and recent voting rights litigation, a path forward begins to emerge

Elementary Education Majors’ Stories About Math: An Analysis of Students’ Mathematics Autobiographies

This paper analyzes 52 preservice elementary education majors’ mathematical autobiographies. Participants wrote about their previous experiences with mathematics. Three themes emerged: (1) My previous teachers have played a significant role in the formation of my mathematical identity. (2) I want to help my future students understand, enjoy, and appreciate mathematics. And (3) Mathematics has its ups and downs. Although directed to define mathematics, many participants did not do so. The remaining participants described mathematics as needed for everyday life, as problem solving, or as a study

Measuring attitudes about mathematics: using a semantic differential

At all educational levels, students’ attitudes towards mathematics are important, including elementary and junior and senior high school preservice teachers’. In this study, a semantic differential (rating scale) was administered to four different groups of students in order to ascertain their attitudes toward mathematics. The four groups included preservice elementary and high school teachers; and liberal education college and high school students. Semantic differential enabled the researchers to distinguish diversity in groups’ attitudes. Findings in this study show that the high school students assessed exhibit the most negative attitudes towards mathematics, whereas preservice elementary teachers reported more positive attitudes towards mathematics than previous research in this area has indicated

Popular Cultural Portrayals of Those Who Do Mathematics

This article examines the popular cultural portrayals of mathematicians, but also anyone who does mathematics. Themes occurring in comic strips, television programs, literature, and, especially, in the movies are examined. Implications discussed include that secondary students are not going to be willing to do mathematics, if doing mathematics is not presented as a cultural activity

Metaphors and Mathematical Identity: Math is Like a Tornado in Kansas

Mathematical identity is an individual’s concept of who he or she is mathematically. In this paper, metaphors for mathematics from elementary education majors are compared to metaphors created by secondary mathematics teaching majors. The analysis demonstrates a basic difference in the mathematical identity of the two groups, with the latter group having more holistic conceptions of mathematics than the first group. Elementary education majors describe mathematics as an ongoing struggle in which the mathematics is active, and they are the victims. The secondary teaching mathematics majors describe mathematics as an ongoing struggle in which they are active

BETWEEN MARTIN LUTHER AND MARTIN LUTHER KING: James Pennington’s Struggle for “Sacred Human Rights” Against Slavery

This Article outlines the human rights theories of nineteenth-century abolitionist and civil rights leader James Pennington. Born into slavery in Maryland, Pennington escaped North and became the first African American to attend Yale. As an ordained Presbyterian clergyman, educator, orator, author, and activist, he adapted traditional Protestant rights theories explicitly to include the rights of all, regardless of race. He emphasized the authority and freedom of the individual conscience as foundational to human rights. He advocated a central role for covenantal institutions including church, state, family, and school as essential for fostering a law and culture of human rights. And he defended the right of all to disobey unjust laws and resist tyrannical regimes. Pennington bridged these theories in novel ways with pacifist teachings, anticipating by more than a century the American civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King, Jr., and others. Though largely forgotten by historians, Pennington was well known and influential among his contemporaries. His life and work represent an important step in the development of law, religion, and human rights

Best Practices for Low-Cost Safety Improvements on Iowa’s Local Roads

Many good maintenance practices are done routinely to ensure safe travel on low-volume local roads. In addition, there are many specific treatments that may go beyond the point of routine maintenance and in fact provide additional safety benefits with a relatively low price tag. The purpose of this publication is to try to assemble many of these treatments that are currently practiced in Iowa by local agencies into one, easy-to-reference handbook that not only provides some clarity to each treatment with photos and narrative, but also features references to agencies currently using that technique. Some strategies that are utilized by Iowa, other states, and are topics of research have also been included to allow the user more information about possible options. Even though some areas overlap, the strategies presented have been grouped together in the following areas: Signing and Delineation, Traffic Calming, Pavement Marking and Rumble Strips/Stripes, Roadside and Clear Zone, Guardrail and Barriers, Lighting, Pavements and Shoulders, Intersections, Railroad Crossings, Bridges and Culverts, and Miscellaneous. The intention is to make this a “living” document, which will continue to be updated and expanded periodically as other existing practices are recognized or new practices come into being