Although professional organizations such as the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) continue to push for the role of equity inside of mathematics classrooms, the need for culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) remains just as necessary today as it has for the last two decades. In this study, the authors share ways in which one…

The authors provide a dynamic Ferris wheel computer activity that teachers can use as an instructional tool to help students investigate functions. They use a student's work to illustrate how students can use relationships between quantities to further their thinking about functions.

In the criminal justice system, defendants accused of a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Statistical inference in any context is built on an analogous principle: The null hypothesis--often a hypothesis of "no difference" or "no effect"--is presumed true unless there is sufficient evidence against it. In this…

To create an environment in which all students have opportunities to notice, describe, and wonder about variability, this article takes a context familiar to many teacher--sampling colored chips from a jar--and shows how this context was used to explicitly focus on variation in the classroom. The sampling activity includes physical as well as…

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving presents a challenge to teachers in many U.S. schools. Some students are absent because they are traveling to be with their extended families for the holiday. Other students, assuming that nothing important will happen at school when so many of their peers are absent, may also be absent. One school's solution to…

Played in university classes for preservice teachers as well as in middle and high schools, the River Crossing Game depends on the sum of tosses of two fair dice. This paper describes the game as well as some lines of thinking about winning strategies, which are not obvious even with an understanding of the overall distribution for the sum of two…

This article describes an activity that involves the use of simulation for decision-making. It is useful for demonstrating concepts in probability and statistics. (Contains 4 figures and 2 tables.)

Presents background information and the listing for a LOGO computer program which investigates an ancient mathematical riddle (related to the square root of seventeen). The simulation, written for Apple II microcomputers, can be easily adapted to other microcomputers. (JN)

Described is a unit, SAMPLING, which focuses on developing student understanding of probability and data collection for junior high school students. Activities in SAMPLING incorporate physical materials, simple computer simulations, surveys of subjective data, computer simulations of complex situations, and a culminating activity requiring the…

Presents sports-oriented examples (cricket and football) in which Monte Carlo methods are used on microcomputers to teach probability concepts. Both examples include computer programs (with listings) which utilize the microcomputer's random number generator. Instructional strategies, with further challenges to help students understand the role of…

Suggests the use of computer simulation of continuous systems as a problem solving approach to computer languages. Outlines the procedures that the system dynamics approach employs in computer simulations. Explains the advantages of the special purpose language, DYNAMO. (ML)

With the help of widely available microcomputers, it is possible to demonstrate certain statistical phenomena which students of statistics are usually expected to take on faith. Two demonstrations are described. In the first demonstration, three common types of sampling (simple random, biased, and stratified-random) are used to compare statistics…

Discusses the use of the mathematics classroom for discovering the relationship among computers, mathematics, and real-world problems. Provides three probability problems and compares the results of three methods, actual trial, computer simulation, and mathematical solution. (YP)

Abstracts six conference papers from the ISRAEL Association for Computers in Education. Included topics are spreadsheets for problem solving, concept acquisition with microcomputers, numerical mathematics, learning math as a science, studying polygons with LOGO, and a growth curve simulation of microorganisms. (MVL)

Describes the use of the "Microsoft Flight Simulator" with Dutch students 12- to 16-years-old to apply mathematical knowledge to real-life situations. The use of an overhead projector for class flights is described; and student activities, including converting metric units and drawing maps of the landscape, are explained. (LRW)