In any form of instruction the instructor plays an important role as facilitator of learning. Demonstrations to accompany ideas and concepts are a requirement for effective instruction. Experienced instructors have private toolboxes of demos, conceptual approaches, or physical gadgets they use to encourage students to tune-in to mathematics. This rich, but largely unharvested source of tried-and-tested ideas forms the basis for Demos with Positive Impact, a project that will develop a web-based database of instructional demos and connect this resource to university mathematics instructors. This project takes advantage of the knowledge and experience of colleagues across the country and presents these valuable resources to the mathematics community in an attractive, user-friendly format. Demos with Positive Impact is a resource for instructors who are looking for ideas or demonstrations adaptable for various teaching styles and learning environments. 

Acknowledgements

Partial support for this work was provided by the National Science Foundation’s Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement Program under grant DUE-9952306.