A study of the impact graphing calculators have on the achievement in high school pre calculus

The use of graphing calculators in high school mathematics has long been debated. The transformation of function, in particular, parabolas, was studied and it was shown that there was no loss of achievement in Pre-Calculus classes with the use of graphing calculators. Assessments examined the impact of the graphing calculator on the conceptual knowledge of the topics by testing the students without the graphing calculator and with the graphing calculators. Five classes of pre calculus students (two classes who used graphing calculators and three who did not) were used in the study. The same students were used in the before and after assessments to more accurately analyze the impact of the graphing calculator on learning. After the second assessment, the students were given a survey using Likert-type items to investigate the attitude towards the graphing calculator as a teaching tool. This survey was divided into two parts; the ability to use a graphing calculator and the effect graphing calculators has on the mathematics experience

Multi-Party Elections in the Arab World: Institutional Engineering and Oppositional Strategies

Recent moves toward multi-party competition for elected legislatures in numerous Arab countries constitute a significant departure from earlier practices there, and create the basis for democratic activists to gradually chip away at persistent authoritarian rule. This article explores the institutional mechanisms by which incumbent authoritarian executives seek to engineer these elections. It documents examples of rulers changing electoral systems to ensure compliant legislatures, and demonstrates the prevalent use of winner-takes-all electoral systems, which generally work to the regimes\u27 advantage. I then review various strategies of opposition forces--boycotts, non-competition agreements, election monitoring, and struggles over election rules--and the dilemmas that these entail. Surmounting differences in terms of ideologies, as well as short-term political goals and prospects, is a central challenge. The future should see greater electoral participation among opposition activists, along with cleaner elections. As vote coercion and ballot box stuffing is restricted by opposition pressures, electoral institutions will take on greater importance, and struggles for proportional representation are likely to increase