Ben, a good mathematics student, participated in a seven-week study. Describes three tasks that reflect impact of textbooks, real-life connections, and mathematical symbols. Shows that Ben's notion of one-half was task-dependent, concrete, and based on physical actions. (NI)

Discussed are different aspects of interviewing that will help a teacher to learn weaknesses and strengths of students' mathematical thinking. Information learned from the students can have a dramatic effect on what is taught, when it is taught, how it is taught, and how a child's progress is evaluated. (RH)

Presents data from interviews of (n=15) precalculus teachers required to adopt the technology-intensive Demana/Waits Precalculus Mathematics textbook and to use graphing calculators in their precalculus classes. Results showed that teachers recognized the need for well-organized, extensive workshops. Teacher comments showed a disparity in their…

The Virginia State Supervisor for Learning Disabilities interviews Rose Sinicrope concerning the development of her finger subtraction strategy for use with learning-disabled students. Several examples of subtraction problems are illustrated to demonstrate the finger counting method, and this method is compared to the strategies of Chisanbop and…

Provides examples which suggest the importance of giving children opportunities to create their own arguments and of allowing them the opportunity to verbalize these arguments in clinical interviews. Also indicates that if time is spent interviewing children individually, instruction can be matched to the way they think. (JN)

Interviews with fourth, fifth, and sixth graders found that they thought about the concept of average as mode, median, and/or a procedure. Presents approaches to develop the concept of average. (MKR)

Because second grade students had difficulty in explaining what they knew about the number 15, it was suspected that they did not understand place value. Realizing every number has a place value and its place provides facility for calculation, a teacher attempted to ascertain second grade students' (N=18) knowledge of place value. Results of…

Questioned is a method of having students tap reference points on numerals to count out sums, differences, and products. How the method works, educators' reactions, and problems noted in interviews with children are discussed. (MNS)

Requirements for assessment under Public Law 94-142, the development of an Individualized Education Program for each handicapped child, the least restrictive environment, handicapping conditions, implementation procedures, diagnostic teaching strategies and learning conditions, teaching ideas, and a format for diagnostic interviews are each…

Investigated were those long-term processes which contribute to high rates of attrition for women out of mathematics. It is based on the contention that university students drop out of mathematics as a consequence of prior socialization, educational career contingencies, and goal commitment and career aspirations, with the mix of these factors…

The focus of this document is on students' understanding of symbolization processes in algebra, and specifically their understanding of semantically laden letters. In the first four sections, four inappropriate ways in which many college students use semantically laden letters are described. Evidence from clinical interview protocols demonstrate…

Describes interviews with four primary age children. Uses the results of the interviews to support a shift from the assessment of performance to the assessment of understanding. (PK)

Presents an interview with Henry Pollak. Areas considered include how and why he chose mathematics, his international activities, teaching in industry, model building in schools, applied mathematics, experiences with the School Mathematics Study Group (SMSG), and failure of the SMSG at the elementary level, and others. (JN)

The material focuses on the power and usefulness of the number three and is presented as though the number was being interviewed. Among the issues covered in the presentation is the impossibility of dividing an angle into three equal parts using just a straight edge and a compass. (Author/MP)

This paper argues that the ability to conduct structured interviews with students should be part of every mathematics teacher's repertoire of student assessment strategies. The paper discusses and illustrates interview strategies and skills and reviews assumptions about mathematical problem solving. (JDD)