Often, straightforward notions from one mathematical domain, when altered even slightly, can become rich and rewarding investigations involving numerous additional domains -- particularly when the investigation includes rigorous proof. This study begins with a familiar high school geometry problem (namely finding the circumcentre of a triangle),…

The importance of mathematical reasoning is unquestioned and providing opportunities for students to become involved in mathematical reasoning is paramount. The open-ended tasks presented incorporate mathematical content explored through the contexts of problem solving and reasoning. This article presents a number of simple tasks that may be…

There is a great deal of overlap between the set of practices collected under the term "computational thinking" and the mathematical habits of mind that are the focus of much mathematics instruction. Despite this overlap, the links between these two desirable educational outcomes are rarely made explicit, either in classrooms or in the…

This study compares Malaysian and Korean geometry content in mathematics textbooks to help explain the differences that have been found consistently between the achievement levels of Malaysian and South Korean students in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Studies have shown that the use of textbooks can affect…

How many rods does it take to brace a square in the plane? Once Martin Gardner's network of readers got their hands on it, it turned out to be fewer than Raphael Robinson, who originally posed the problem, thought. And who could have predicted the stunning solutions found subsequently for various generalizations of the problem?

Getting students to think about the relationships between area and perimeter beyond the formulas for these measurements is never easy. An interesting, nonroutine, and accessible problem that will stimulate such thoughts is the Lattice Octagon problem. A "lattice polygon" is a polygon whose vertices are points of a regularly spaced array.…

Proving in school geometry is not just about validating the truth of a claim. In the school setting, the main function of the proof is to convince someone that a claim is true by providing an explanation. Students consider proving to be difficult; in fact, they find the very concept of proof demanding. Proving a claim in planar geometry involves…

Determining how to provide good tutoring functions is an important research direction of intelligent tutoring systems. In this study, the authors develop an intelligent tutoring system with good tutoring functions, called "FUDAOWANG." The research domain that FUDAOWANG treats is junior middle school mathematics, which belongs to the objective…

In the field of human cognition, language plays a special role that is connected directly to thinking and mental development (e.g., Vygotsky, "1938"). Thanks to "verbal thought", language allows humans to go beyond the limits of immediately perceived information, to form concepts and solve complex problems (Luria, "1975"). So, it appears language…

This article discusses two examples of geometric problem solving suitable for middle and high school students. Both problems are related to students' everyday life experience and allow them to discover deep connections between mathematical properties and nature. With the help of dynamic mathematics software, students have the opportunity to…

Describes some unsolved problems in geometry, as well as some recently solved ones. Indicates that each advance generates more problems than it solves, thus ensuring a constant growth in unsolved problems. (GA)

Using sequential chains of regular n-gons in a row with one side touching, as for example, one triangle, two triangles, three triangles, and so on, students graph the length of the perimeter versus the number of n-gons and determine the functional relationship for different values of n. (MKR)

Presents a framework for differentiating between five levels of extension of knowledge: basic features, forms, rules, application, and elaboration. Comparison of the extent of knowledge use exhibited by (n=14) Year-11 Australian students on a range of plane geometry problems found that high-achieving students exhibited greater extension of…

Contains an analysis of the activities of 12-year-old students solving problems of polygonal tilings and presents two categories of the thinking processes of these students: instantaneous thinking resulting in perceptions of simple structures and discursive thinking appearing in drawing activities and arguments of proofs. (13 references)…

A question posed by Euler is considered: How can polyhedra be classified so that the results is in some way analogous to the simple classification of polygons according to the number of their sides? (MK)