In this article the author presents readers with some very useful activities, ideas and problems. He has used these at various times over the years and together they make a very interesting collection. These pieces have come together from different sources, but like a jigsaw, they complete the picture of understanding of the numbers inside the…

Some useful approaches to assist students with the uncertainty of measurement and the necessity of significant figures through age conversion exercise and activity are presented. It showed that while two people might be born on the same date, they are not born at the same instant once, it considers the birth time to an appropriate number of…

Numbers can be represented in a variety of ways--through pictures, diagrams, symbols. Each representation highlights different features of the number and the number system. This study aims to explore pupil understanding of number both within and across representations. A computer environment (suite of programmes) was created within which…

Integrating multicultural activities into mathematics instruction at all grade levels helps to foster appropriate and desirable attitudes about mathematics and its role in our culture. Multicultural investigations in mathematics reveal that many practices common to today's classrooms (such as reasonable guessing) served as the basis for solving…

"Progress in Mathematics[C] 2006" is a new core curriculum for students in kindergarten through grade 6. "Progress in Mathematics[C] 2006" differs substantively from "Progress in Mathematics[C] 2000" in both content and assessment material. "Progress in Mathematics[C] 2006" uses a sequence of systematic…

This nonexperimental, longitudinal field study examines the extent to which variation in observed classroom supports (quality of emotional and instructional interactions and amount of exposure to literacy and math activities) predicts trajectories of achievement in reading and math from 54 months to fifth grade. Growth mixture modeling detected…

Assesses the use of manipulative aids and how they are used in primary mathematics classrooms. (Author/CCM)

In extra-curriculum activities, the nature of the instructor-learner relationship differs from that in class. This constellation, if accompanied by a smaller gap between the mathematical skills of tutor and learner, has an impact on motivational aspects and on the choice of contents in these activities: The use of problem questions of competition…

Recent publications continue to show that significant numbers of students in junior grades, while competent in basic ruler skills, seem not to have acquired important concepts about how rulers work and units of length. This paper reports on the results of a set of tasks completed by students from Grades 5 and 6. The results show that many students…

Presents the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project's (UCMSP) Every Day Mathematics Program as one current reform-based elementary curriculum incorporating geometry throughout the K-6 curriculum, with an emphasis on hands-on and problem-solving activities. Measures the longitudinal effects of such an approach. (Author/CCM)

This paper explores what happens when students engage with mathematical tasks that make no attempt to be connected with students' everyday life experiences. The investigation draws on the work of educators who call for a broader view of what might count as real and relevant contexts for studying mathematics. It investigates students' experiences…

Least squares regression is the most common method of fitting a straight line to a set of bivariate data. Another less known method that is available on Texas Instruments graphing calculators is median-median regression. This method is proposed as a simple method that may be used with middle and high school students to motivate the idea of fitting…

The Anthropological Theory of Didactics describes mathematical activity in terms of "mathematical organisations" or "praxeologies" and considers the teacher as the "director of the didactic process" the students carry out, a process that is structured along six dimensions or "didactic moments." This paper…

E-Exercise Bases (EEB) are now used in the teaching of mathematics, especially at university. We discuss here the consequences of their use on the students' activity during computer lab sessions. Results stem from observations of several teaching designs organised in different French universities with three e-exercise bases. The analysis focuses…

It is often claimed that working and talking with partners while carrying out maths activities is beneficial to students' learning and the development of their mathematical understanding. However, observational research has shown that primary school children often do not work productively in group-based classroom activities, with the implication…