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TRansforming Instruction in Undergraduate Mathematics via Primary Historical Sources (TRIUMPHS) is a multi-year, multi-institution collaborative project funded by the US National Science Foundation aimed at developing and testing student projects based on primary historical sources related to the original or subsequent development of core topics in today’s tertiary mathematics curriculum. In addition to developing a broad range of projects and supporting their site testing by instructors across the US and Canada, TRIUMPHS includes a major Evaluation-with-Research component that is studying the effects of their classroom use on students and instructors. Our goal in this article is to share an overview of our research efforts related to the student learning experience—and as importantly, the tale of how we arrived at them—with others engaged in the effort to transform instruction in the field of undergraduate mathematics education. We provide a summary of three research initiatives undertaken by TRIUMPHS: a metadiscursive rules investigation based on Sfard’s theory of commognition, an exploratory study of the concepts of transgressive actions and boundary crossings (first put forth by Polish psychologist Jozef Kozielecki) within the context of student learning of mathematics, and an examination of the different views students hold regarding the nature of mathematics. Additionally, we offer methodological reflections on how we revised our research questions and analytic tools based on theoretical constructs from mathematics education and beyond as the project unfolded over the first 6 years.

Despite the challenges that primary historical sources present for students and instructors alike, engaging students with such sources as part of their mathematical learning experiences is an increasingly common instructional practice. Yet research on teaching and learning with primary sources remains a niche activity. It is thus reasonable to ask whether the use of primary sources merits broader attention from the mathematics education community. This article explores this question through the lens of Sfard’s commognitive theory of learning, which views mathematics as a discourse and mathematical learning as the process of becoming a participant in that discourse. Importantly, commognitive tenets apply to interpretations of mathematical development at both the historical and individual levels. I use these tenets to analyze a particular type of student project that adopts a guided reading approach to primary sources. Specifically, I examine examples of such projects that have been developed and used in the US to teach core mathematical topics at the university level since 2003, using commognitive theory to characterize the potential learning opportunities they afford. As with all instructional materials, these opportunities can be missed in classroom implementation. Nevertheless, the discourses represented in different instructional materials render some learning opportunities easier to offer students, while constraining the possibility of others. I thus also briefly examine some of the differences between these primary source projects and the standard textbooks that they are intended to replace.

We describe an exploration informed by transgressionism and supported by data collected from students’ report of learning abstract algebra via curriculum materials where primary historical sources are central to their design, namely Primary Source Projects (PSPs). PSPs require students to actively engage with primary source texts written by historical mathematicians and counter students’ more traditional mathematical learning experiences. We explore the components forming transgressive triads consisting of outcomes of transgressive actions taken to overcome boundaries encountered in students’ study of mathematics. Particularly, we focus on transgressive actions undertaken by students and provide exemplars identified from data to empirically support our theoretical conceptualisations. We end with a discussion by proposing research that draws upon transgressions in both learning mathematics via PHS in particular and with regard to other approaches in undergraduate mathematics education which may place students in contexts in which their familiar is made unfamiliar.

The Cuban government has made a significant investment in biomedical research, resulting in important accomplishments unparalleled by other countries of comparable population size and gross domestic product. This development, however, has been under mined by a continuous exodus of professionals to other countries. What factors drive the decision of many scientists to abandon an apparently thriving research and development environment? This article provides a view of the rise of the Cuban biotechnology research effort from the bench scientist’s perspective. Cuban biotechnology was born with intrinsic obstacles: politicization, secrecy, and the absence of safeguards against conflicts of interest. Guiding principles to counteract these limitations and rationally manage brain drain are discussed. La inversión del gobierno cubano en investigaciones biomédicas ha resultado en importantes logros no igualados por otras naciones con similar producto interno bruto. No obstante, este desarrollo ha sido frenado por un continuo éxodo de profesionales a otros países. ¿Cuáles factores explican que muchos profesionales decidan abandonar una empresa aparentemente próspera? Este artículo revela la experiencia de un científico que vivió el surgimiento de la biotecnología cubana desde el laboratorio. La biotecnología cubana nació con varios obstáculos: politización, secretismo y ausencia de aseguramientos contra conflictos de interés. Este artículo discute algunos principios rectores para contrarrestar estos obstáculos, así como manejar racionalmente la fuga de cerebros.

This work was developed to present a conceptual and preliminary analysis of the concepts and criteria for estimating the Energy Return on Investment (EROI). In this work, methods based on monetary studies, Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) were discussed and a dynamical systems modeling was proposed. In this respect, we made a mathematical development, defining the state and auxiliary variables and the adjustment parameters necessary to study the problem. Some criteria and influencing factors were defined, in the medium and long term, the sustainability of the energy system and seek to incorporate them into relevant areas of discussion and education, encouraging their dissemination and reviews. It is sought to discuss the issues and considerations for a standardized methodology that allows comparisons and decision-making, in order to minimize environmental impact.

At California State University, Northridge (CSUN), many students lack the skills needed to locate, analyze, and apply essential contexts associated with primary sources. Using these sources requires critical inquiry, which is a fundamental theme in pedagogy, the California State University system's Core Competencies, and the Association of College and Research Libraries Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. The authors piloted a Guided Resource Inquiry (GRI) tool that enables teaching faculty and librarians to create course assignments integrating online primary sources. These assignments deliver relevant information literacy tutorials to students using a single interface. With the GRI students better understood the nature of primary sources and how to analyze them critically in their course work. Additionally, students more fully understood the research process, and were more likely to use primary and archival materials in the future.

Although recent archival scholarship promotes the use of primary sources for developing students' analytical research skills, few studies focus on standards or protocols for teaching or assessing archival instruction. Librarians have designed and tested standards and learning assessment strategies for library instruction, and archivists would do well to collaborate with and learn from their experience. This study examines lessons learned from one such collaboration between an instructional services librarian and archivist to evaluate and enhance archival instruction in the University Archives' Student Life and Culture Archival Program (SLC Archives) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library. Based on evaluative data from a student survey and in-depth interviews, the authors offer strategies for successfully meeting and exceeding learning outcomes for archival intelligence.

[…] Yesterday some of us had the hardihood to brave the element and venture on shore, Father, Madre and self being of the party […] We reached Adelaide at 12.30 and at once did King William St. and had a look at some of the more prominent buildings – making some necessary if unromantic purchases. We had lunch at a very one-horse place which a bobby recommended to us as the best in Adelaide. After that we made a horse-tram journey out to see the cathedral which is a very beautiful little building with a Lady Chapel – fancy one in Melbourne. I dropped into the zoo and had a look round: I was very keen on seeing their rhinoceros but found it was these many years extinct. Father and Madre went on to the gallery where I met them. We had a very enjoyable half-hour there. There was no time for more. It is really a more interesting gallery than Melbourne as tho’ smaller it has fewer encumbrances in the way of trash and several jolly good pictures – Watts, Leighton, Bouguereau, Rossetti, etc. It is really a splendid gallery for Adelaide. We hadn't time for anything more as it was too wet to go up Mount Lofty. So we shopped and teaed and after that we came back […]

This book explores the diverse understandings of the archaeological record in both historical and contemporary perspective, while also serving as a guide to reassessing current views. Gavin Lucas argues that archaeological theory has become both too fragmented and disconnected from the particular nature of archaeological evidence. The book examines three ways of understanding the archaeological record - as historical sources, through formation theory and as material culture - then reveals ways to connect these three domains through a reconsideration of archaeological entities and archaeological practice. Ultimately, Lucas calls for a rethinking of the nature of the archaeological record and the kind of history and narratives written from it.