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In this paper, we report on an experimental activity for discussing the concepts of speed, instantaneous speed and acceleration, generally introduced in first year university courses of calculus or physics. Rather than developing the ideas of calculus and using them to explain these basic concepts for the study of motion, we led 82 first year university students through Galileo's experiments designed to investigate the motion of falling bodies, and his geometrical explanation of his results, via simple dynamic geometric applets designed with GeoGebra. Our goal was to enhance the students’ development of mathematical thinking. Through a scholarship of teaching and learning study design, we captured data from students before, during and after the activity. Findings suggest that the historical development presented to the students helped to show the growth and evolution of the ideas and made visible authentic ways of thinking mathematically. Importantly, the activity prompted students to question and rethink what they knew about speed and acceleration, and also to appreciate the novel concepts of instantaneous speed and acceleration at which Galileo arrived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mexican authorities and universities are actively working to improve mathematics teaching and learning across the education system. Thus, efforts are underway to raise the historically low performance in mathematics, which include theoretically grounded pedagogy and curriculum development to raise mathematical knowledge in teacher education programmes. The purpose of this article is twofold. Firstly, I give an overview of the educational system in Mexico by outlining the evolution of the mathematics curriculum and teacher preparation programmes. Secondly, I describe and discuss, from my own practice, a lesson using dynamic tools for helping prospective teachers to understand the relationship between integration and differentiation within the context of the current literature from Mexico and abroad. While Mexico faces distinct issues within its educational system, challenges in how future mathematics teachers understand mathematical content appear universal. Thus, teaching mathematical content while modelling effective mathematical pedagogical practices is of relevance to all of us striving to enhance the quality of future mathematics teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A deeper learning of the properties and applications of the derivative for the study of functions may be achieved when teachers present lessons within a highly graphic context, linking the geometric illustrations to formal proofs. Each concept is better understood and more easily retained when it is presented and explained visually using graphs. In this article, we explore the conditions of necessity or sufficiency of the criteria for determining the maxima and minima of a function. The implications for the teaching of derivatives and functions in undergraduate courses are discussed in light of our analysis of textbooks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]