In this paper, we describe an educational activity involving the use of a digital artifact, implemented in a visual programming environment, for mediating the learning of axial symmetry in primary school through algorithmics and computer programming. The educational activity was designed with the aim of bringing out increasingly…

Describes strategies for teaching elementary students to solve a multiplication problem using the lattice method. (JOW)

Presents several alternatives to customary algorithms for whole number arithmetic. Includes a brief history of each algorithm and discusses why each might be useful for particular kinds of children. (KHR)

Discusses the use of manipulative materials to model operations and algorithms. Indicates that they clarify the several interpretations of each operation, establish a basis for correct mathematical language, and show why algorithms work. (JN)

This report illustrates a simple, short, yet relatively little known partial check on addition that elementary school pupils can be lead to discover, and later taught to understand. The process can also be used for subtraction and is viewed as more useful than the traditional check of casting out nines. (MP)

A process for helping students in the elementary grades develop their own algorithms for subtraction with carrying is described. Pupils choose their own times and ways to move from manipulative materials to written notation. (MP)

Describes a pattern which emerged from an examination of the digits of the squares of numbers. Provides eight examples having the pattern at the units or tens digit of the number. (YP)

Describes a multicultural enrichment project for 4th graders that highlights number systems and computation algorithms of various cultures. Discusses student responses and reactions. (KHR)

Presents a developmental taxonomy which promotes sequencing activities to enhance the potential of matching these activities with learner needs and readiness, suggesting that the order commonly found in the classroom needs to be inverted. The proposed taxonomy (story, skill, and algorithm) involves problem-solving emphasis in the classroom. (JN)

Presents an easy method for constructing magic squares from three-by-three to general squares. Provides a computer program generating odd-order magic squares. Six references are listed. (YP)

The author suggests that, through using the outlined question model and suggested classroom activities, elementary students will improve their abilities to analyze routine, one-step word problems and make a plan for the solution. It is further argued that the same algorithm can be applied to multistep problems by using specified questions. (PK)

This paper describes the BUD project which surveyed childrens' conceptions of division, and of fractions and decimals. The lack of connection between counting skills and conceptual understanding is discussed. The expectations for new algorithms and the basic idea in planning the BUD project are summarized. Some previous studies on counting, the…

Describes teaching strategies in which children are encouraged to develop computational procedures that are meaningful to them. Authors state that classroom observation reveals most primary students to be capable of developing their own accurate solution procedures for multi-digit addition and subtraction as well as for simple multiplication and…

Discusses the Science Library Catalog, an online catalog intended for use by children at the Los Angeles Public Library, and describes the process of reorganizing the MARC-based database by using clustering algorithms to extend the Dewey Decimal Classification. Examples of screen displays are included. (18 references) (LRW)