Research as a resource in a high-school calculus curriculum

Abstract

Documents specifying a national mathematics curriculum for grades K-12 have recently been written in Israel. We focus on the calculus component for the highest of three matriculation bound levels, and specifically on the influence of research on this component. In addition to issues of content, we identify three principles that have led the writing team, namely, the manner in which sample tasks in the curriculum document incorporate fundamental mathematical ideas and mathematical Reasoning, the Impact expected from connecting mathematics to its role in everyday life and science, and the Cultivation of fertile intellectual ground from which new concepts may emerge naturally. We demonstrate how these principles are implemented in the unit on integration. We show that mathematics education research, though not mentioned explicitly, has had a profound and pervasive influence on the content and principles of the curriculum document, from the design of entire units down to the formulation of sample tasks.