SUTMEG

The Sydney University Tertiary Mathematics Education Group (SUTMEG) was established in 1992. It provides a focus within the School of Mathematics and Statistics for activities and discussions related to teaching and learning of mathematics at tertiary level.

Most recent seminar

Tuesday 6 December 2005

CALCULUS: WHERE HAVE WE BEEN AND WHERE ARE WE GOING?

DEBORAH HUGHES HALLETT
University of Arizona, Harvard University

In this talk we will look at how the teaching of calculus has changed over the last decade and consider the challenges of the future. Questions to be addressed may include: How do we make our calculus courses good preparation for futher mathematics, for engineering, for other sciences? What place does technology have in the teaching of calculus? What is the correct balance between theory and applications, between rigour and problem-solving, between conceptual understanding and drill? With contributions from the audience, we will compare the perspective of the US and Australia on these questions.

TEACHING MATHEMATICS: THE GULF BETWEEN SEMANTICS (MEANING) AND SYNTAX (FORM)

DAVID EASDOWN
University of Sydney

Why do students have trouble following an undergraduate mathematics lecture? Why are mathematical seminars frequently difficult to comprehend, even for seasoned researchers? Simplistic answers are that the speaker moves too fast, or assumes too much, or confuses the audience by being inaccurate. But in actual fact, slowing down, or devoting more time to background, or being more careful about accuracy, are in themselves no guarantee that the talk or lecture will become more comprehensible. There seem to be deeper issues at stake, which strike at the heart of what we understand by knowledge and its representation using language.

Contact Person

Sandra Britton (S.Britton@maths.usyd.edu.au)