This article describes middle school mathematics activities that relate measurement, ratios, and geometric sequences to finger positions or the placement of frets on stringed musical instruments. (Contains 2 figures and 2 tables.)

Presents an activity using the cardboard tube from a roll of bathroom tissue or paper towels to help students examine and extend their understanding of the geometric properties of parallelograms. (ASK)

Uses number sense to involve students in calendar activities based on the Julian and Gregorian calendars. (YDS)

Describes the construction and use of the "fraction computer," a simple manipulative that helps pupils understand how to add and subtract unlike, unrelated fractions. (YDS)

Describes an activity in which students develop personal units of measurement to compare standard and nonstandard measurements. (YDS)

Identifies and addresses fundamental ideas that build the foundations of algebraic thinking and reasoning. Focuses on developing appropriate instructional approaches to these concepts. Explains what is meant by "composite unit" and how this concept framed the development of an instructional sequence to help students make sense of and find meaning…

Recounts 6th grade students' investigations of combinations and graph theory that arose from a claim made on a Steak'n Shake menu. (YDS)

Describes an activity in which students develop a conceptual understanding of the formulas of the circumference and area of a circle by exploring pi. (YDS)

Presents an activity in which students investigate geometric probability at a school fair. (YDS)

Encourages students to use one another's ideas as a basis for thinking and learning about mathematics. Develops rich classroom discourse building upon a classroom community. (YDS)

Addresses issues of students' understandings of representative values of data--how representative values should be introduced, and what role student understanding of representative values plays in their ability to analyze sets of data. Highlights the importance of teacher support of student development of conceptual understandings of multiple…

Presents an activity in which students learn how to label graphs in order to make them meaningful. (ASK)

This article focuses on observational assessment in student learning of mathematical concepts in two sixth grade classrooms. Many of the class activities involved algorithms and open-ended problems in which students worked in collaborative groups, pairs, or individually. (MM)

Combines mathematics, literature, and technology to help students discover exponentials. Includes details of several activities with teaching notes. (MM)

Discusses how dice games pose fairness issues that appeal to students and examines a structure for three games involving two dice in a way that leads directly to the theoretical probabilities for all possible outcomes. (YDS)