Is anything more refreshing than going for a nice, long swim? The math scenarios presented in this article will take the reader back to hot summer days and remind the reader what a cool dip in the water feels like. Solving these problems is enjoyable and encourages the solver to think of the many ways that math is all around--even in the middle of…

The dynamics of the construction and perpetuation of gender stereotypes are classic research subjects in social psychology and in the field of educational guidelines in France. The most recent government decree aims to counter stereotypes in schools, by exposing pupils to counter-stereotypes. This study examines the effects of activating…

Working within the context of a contest to find the most beautiful tourist attraction in the world, Year 5 students investigate the most symmetric building from a short-list of three iconic buildings. This involves investigating both line and rotational symmetry in order to make an informed decision about the symmetrical nature of each building.

Research has demonstrated that providing labels helps children notice key features of examples. Much less is known about how different labels impact children's ability to make inferences about the structure underlying mathematical notation. We tested the impact of labeling decimals such as 0.34 using formal place-value labels ("3 tenths and 4…

This research examined the effects of two instructional treatments on training performance in solid volume measurement and potential effects on solving capacity and displaced volume problems by two related studies. Fifty-three fifth-graders from a public elementary school in Taipei, Taiwan, participated. In the Phase 1 study, the children (n = 27)…

Benchmarking is an important strategy for comparing the size of fractions. In addition, knowing whether a given fraction is greater or less than a particular benchmark (e.g., one-half) can support students with accurately locating the fraction on a number line. This article offers a game-based activity that engages students in discussions around…

Inventing is fundamental to mathematical activity, should one be a professional mathematician or a primary school student. Research on mathematical creativity generally is organized along three axes according to its focus on the final product, the overall process, or the individual person. Through these conceptualizations, however, research rarely…

The use of concrete objects in a real-life situation is one of the effective ways for teachers to teach and students to explore and learn transformation geometry. The present study, which used a local wisdom or learning context (called Malay woven motif of Kepulauan Riau), focused on developing the reasoning of transformation geometry with…

This article looks at a simple geometry problem that also involves some reasoning about number combinations, and show how it was used in a Year 7 classroom. The problem is accessible to students with a wide range of abilities, and provides scope for stimulating extensive discussion and reasoning in the classroom, as well as an opportunity for…

Math education consultant Marilyn Burns finds that teachers ask her the same three questions so often she's named them "The Big Three": What can I do with students who finish their math work more quickly?, How can I free up time to work with kids who need extra help?, and How can I differentiate math learning experiences? Burns, who…

The book-gifting programme, the Letterbox Club, was developed as a response to the increased interest in ways of improving the educational outcomes of children in out-of-home care. By reporting quantitative and qualitative findings from a Swedish trial, and compiling findings from previous British evaluations, the purpose of this paper is to…

Tablet computers (tablets) are positioned to be powerful, innovative, effective, and motivating research and assessment tools. We addressed two questions critical for evaluating the appropriateness of using tablets to study number-line estimation, a skill associated with math achievement and argued to be central to numerical cognition. First, is…

Collaborative learning has long been proved to be a crucial agent for enhancing students' social skills, problem-solving abilities and individual learning performance. Understanding how students move from one phase to another in their collaboration process can inform educators of how best to facilitate such learning. However, this is still an area…

Elementary students' difficulties with angles in geometry are well documented, but we know little about how they conceptualize angles while solving problems and how their thinking changes over time. In this study, we examined 26 third and fourth grade students completing a body-based angle task supported by the Kinect for Windows. We used…

This study explored the potential of a rich assessment task to reveal students' multiplicative thinking in respect to a hypothetical learning trajectory. Thirty pairs of students in grades 5 and 6 attempted the task. Twenty-two pairs applied multiplicative structure to find the number of items in arrays. However counting and computational errors…