In adult education, algebraic thinking can be a sense-making tool that introduces coherence among mathematical concepts for those who previously have had trouble learning math. Further, a modeling approach to algebra connects mathematics and the real world, demonstrating the usefulness of math to those who have seen it as just an academic…

Describes a method of instructing adult students in arithmetic which is used at LaGuardia College (New York) and which allows for the full implementation of mastery learning principles within a semester or quarter system and avoids some of the difficulties of the Personalized System of Instruction (PSI). (AYC)