This article describes how a sixth-grade teacher's "missing word" task uncovered higher-level thinking and engaged her students in the Standards for Mathematical Practice. The role and selection of the task promotes higher-level thinking and connects to the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. The task required students to apply…

Having an answer to "When are we ever going to use this in real life?" is important to middle school mathematics teachers. The activity described in this article awakened sixth graders' understanding of how artists use mathematics. By exploring ratio and proportionality in different paintings, students realized the use of proportional…

Efforts to integrate mathematics and science have been widely recognized by mathematics and science educators. However, successful integration of these two important school disciplines remains a challenge. In this article, a mathematics and science activity extends the use of Venn diagrams to a life science context and then circles back to a…

This article describes one way to introduce fraction, decimal, and percent equivalents by linking student-created Op Art with examples of twentieth-century abstract painting. (Contains 7 figures.)

This article describes a lesson unit in which students constructed tables and graphs to represent the growth of different trees. Students then compared the graphs to develop an understanding of slope.

This article details a variety of activities that can be used with middle school students to investigate the size of the number 1,000,000. The activities focus on real-life applications of mathematical proportions and helps students to understand the magnitude of large numbers. (Contains 8 figures.)

Research is only beginning to show the benefits of the effective use of manipulatives with students who have disabilities. This article highlights how teachers can incorporate three manipulative instructional strategies to help students with high-incidence disabilities.