Better than Blackboard: teaching mathematics to human students by a human professor
“Better than Blackboard” is a series of articles being published between 2023 and 2026 in Nieuw Archief voor Wiskunde, the quarterly magazine of the Royal Dutch Mathematical Society. In these articles, I talk about mathematics education in the same way we talk about mathematics: stating definitions, challenging assumptions, and being critical of our intuition. I…
Read MoreProblem solving for fostering students’ analytical thinking: from lessons as an undergraduate to secondary school application
Back in September of 2018, when I had just started my BSc Applied Mathematics at the University of Twente, I had the great fortune of following the course Linear Structures I, at the time given by Nelly Litvak. This was for me the very first time encountering such a theoretical subject and, like many other…
Read MoreDesign principles for “final answer” linear algebra assessment
The linear algebra exams at the University of Twente typically have at least 30% of the points allocated to final answer questions. With no points allocated to a process, but only to the final answer, students often complain that these questions are unfair. If the questions are ones where a careless error might result in…
Read MoreThe state-of-the-art of mathematics teaching at the Dutch universities
Amidst societal upheaval, the realm of mathematics education stands poised for transformation. Evolving communication methods and the influx of data challenge traditional teaching approaches, while a commitment to logical reasoning endures, hinting at an evergreen cornerstone in the face of change.
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