THE REAL WORLD OF MATHEMATICS, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION In this Preface, I would like to focus on what I mean by education and speak about the models and metaphors that are used when people talk, write, and act in the domain of education. We need to look at the assu- tions and processes that the models and metaphors implicitly and explicitly contain. I feel we should explore whether there is a specific thrust to mat- matics education in the here and now, and be very practical about it. For me education is the enhancement of knowledge and understanding, and there is a strong and...

Industrial development is essential to improvement of the standard of living in all coun- tries. In a given region, old and new plants, processes, and technologies have to coexist Technological penetration and substitution processes are generally taking place; they are entirely dynamic and this trend is going to stay like this. People's health and the environment can be affected, directly or indirectly, by rou- tine waste discharges or by accidents. A series of recent major industrial accidents and the effect of poUution highlighted, once again, the need for better management of rou- tine and...

In recent years geometry seems to have lost large parts of its former central position in mathematics teaching in most countries. However, new trends have begun to counteract this tendency. There is an increasing awareness that geometry plays a key role in mathematics and learning mathematics. Although geometry has been eclipsed in the mathematics curriculum, research in geometry has blossomed as new ideas have arisen from inside mathematics and other disciplines, including computer science.
Due to reassessment of the role of geometry, mathematics educators and mathematicians face new...

This book is the final report of the ICMI study on the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics at University Level. As such it is one of a number of such studies that ICMI has commissioned. The other Study Volumes cover assessment in mathematics education, gender equity, research in mathematics education, the teaching of geometry, and history in mathematics education. All ofthese Study Volumes represent a statement of the state of the art in their respective areas. We hope that this is also the case for the current Study Volume. The current study on university level mathematics was commissioned...

The asymptotic theory deals with the problern of determining the behaviour of a function in a neighborhood of its singular point. The function is replaced by another known function ( named the asymptotic function) close (in a sense) to the function under consideration. Many problems of mathematics, physics, and other divisions of natural sci ence bring out the necessity of solving such problems. At the present time asymptotic theory has become an important and independent branch of mathematical analysis. The present consideration is mainly based on the theory of asymp totic spaces. Each...

Kaye Stacey Helen Chick and Margaret Kendal The University of Melbourne Australia Abstract: This section reports on the organisation procedures and publications of the ICMI Study The Future of the Teaching and Learning of Algebra. Key words: Study Conference organisation procedures publications The International Commission on Mathematical Instruction (ICMI) has since the 1980s conducted a series of studies into topics of particular significance to the theory and practice of contemporary mathematics education. Each ICMI Study involves an international seminar the Study Conference and...