This article describes a unit of work that was designed for a Year 9 class of mixed ability and which involved the definition and measurement of angles, as well as the practical application of angle properties--such as complimentary angles and the relationships in a transversal. The unit considered the numeracy skills required to interpret a…

This classroom note is presented as a suggested exercise--not to have the class prove or disprove Goldbach's Conjecture, but to stimulate student discussions in the classroom regarding proof, as well as necessary, sufficient, satisfied, and unsatisfied conditions. Goldbach's Conjecture is one of the oldest unsolved problems in the field of number…

In this article, the author suggests that to improve the teaching of mathematics in elementary schools, we must, when teaching content courses to prospective teachers, model the kind of teaching we want them to engage in. The author suggests ways to model this kind of teaching, which include the following: (1) challenge "all" students; (2)…

In Mr. Wood's technology class, students learned about many aspects of engineering, including design of a product, teamwork, testing hypotheses, and testing the final product. In this article, the author describes how his class, particularly his team, applied everything they learned about the process to their kayak design challenge using the IDEAL…

The author knows from teaching young children herself how challenging it can be to face an endless parade of students reporting things to teachers as they're trying to teach. Figuring out how to deal with tattling takes time and energy and, as a result, teachers are often tempted to tell children to keep problems to themselves. Indeed, some…

Posing mathematics problems in different ways will raise students' level of cognitive demand because it will push them to think more deeply about mathematics. By engaging students in a task that requires them to determine their own solution strategies, students will gain a deeper understanding of the mathematical concept explored through the task.…

This paper argues that design fixation, in part, entails fixation at the level of meta-representation, the representation of the relation between a representation and its reference. In this paper, we present a mathematical model that mimics the idea of how fixation can occur at the meta-representation level. In this model, new abstract concepts…

Recreational Programming (RecPro) is the discipline that encourages the study of computer programming through ludic problems. Problems that are typically studied within this discipline are similar to those of Recreational Mathematics (RecMat), which sometimes leads to the confusion of these two disciplines. The objective for RecPro is to write…

This article describes a probability project used in an upper division, one-semester probability course with third-semester calculus and linear algebra prerequisites. The student learning outcome focused on developing the skills necessary for approaching project-sized math/stat application problems. These skills include appropriately defining…

Physical education has found itself in a difficult position; increasingly more voices are questioning its legitimisation on school curricula. There is an obvious need for performance standards and ways to measure the impact of physical education. Linking the benefits and outcomes of physical education to 21st Century core learning areas such as…

The Functional Behavioural Assessment (FBA) is an investigative process that examines the context of challenging behaviours in the classroom. Information gleaned from the FBA process is used to develop a behaviour intervention plan to address the challenging behaviour and teach a socially acceptable replacement behaviour. However, the FBA has…

The California Teach Program at the University of California, San Diego, recruits and prepares undergraduates interested in teaching science and mathematics. One of the products of the program is a set of courses taught by faculty in science disciplines that integrate subject matter with theories of learning and instruction, with the goal of…

Certain secondary school subjects, such as geography, contain topics which are based on mathematical concepts. However, some geography teachers either fail to recognize this connection or choose to ignore it when they teach. Instead, they present the subject matter as a collection of facts, which need to be memorized and reproduced by the pupils.…

The development of fundamental movement skills in physical education is an important contributor toward children's' lifetime interest and participation in physical activity. Physical education teachers and their curricula follow national and state standards to provide learning experiences and instruction that support the acquisition of…

The improvement of mathematics teaching and learning is a complicated undertaking. It relies on teacher understanding of math curriculum in addition to awareness of how children acquire mathematics concepts. It also depends on teachers' abilities to translate these understandings into learning tasks and instructional routines, as well as the…