Using student projects to enhance learning

Abstract

The implementation of student projects in undergraduate mathematics and statistics courses is discussed with suggestions and recommendations. Advantages and pitfalls of this teaching tool are presented. A prototypical student project for an elementary mathematics course is described. The features of this sample project serve as models for components of other projects. This illustrative project concerns the locus of intersection points of pairs of tangent lines to a conic section, such that the products of the lines’ slopes are a constant.

KEYWORDS:

• Student project
• writing mathematics
• writing across the curriculum
• geometrical thinking
• directrix
• director circle

2010 Mathematics Subject Classifications:

• Primary: 97D40 (Mathematics Education: Teaching methods and classroom techniques)
• Secondary: 97G40 (Mathematics Education: Plane and spherical geometry)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.