Media Clips appears in every issue of Mathematics Teacher, offering readers contemporary, authentic applications of quantitative reasoning based on print or electronic media. This issue features "How Big is Too Big?" (Margaret Cibes and James Greenwood) in which students are asked to analyze the data and tables provided and answer a…

Integrating technology into the mathematics classroom means more than just new teaching tools--it is an opportunity to redefine what it means to teach and learn mathematics. Yet deciding when a particular form of technology may be appropriate for a specific mathematics topic can be difficult. Such decisions center on what is commonly being…

Middle and High school students of the twenty-first century possess surprising powers of spatial reasoning. They are assisted by technologies not available to earlier generations. Both of these assertions are demonstrated by students who are challenged with George Polya's classic Five Planes Problem. (Contains 5 figures.)

This activity consists of two problem situations, each illustrating how a computer can be used as a tool to assist students in solving mathematical problems. In one, numerous calculations are performed by the computer; the second uses a Monte Carlo model to simulate a physical action. (MNS)

To help students develop measurement skills using metric units, an activity on making a box is described, with a worksheet for students. A second article discusses graphing elementary functions with a real domain, while a third article describes computer-assisted practice in graphing sine and cosine functions. (MNS)

Two problem-solving skills, guess-and-test and simplification, are introduced and reinforced through a variety of motivating problem situations. Solutions of sample problems and extensive directions for the teacher encourage the use of Polya's four-step model of problem solving. (MNS)

Provided are four worksheets that are designed to capitalize on the use of calculators as teachers' partners in helping students to develop an intuitive feeling for percentage. Students also learn how to use the calculator's percent key to compute percentages. (MNS)

Activities concern exploring data and using the stem-and-leaf plot for displaying data. The three worksheets present activities, with brief directions for the teacher included. (MNS)

Three worksheets and teachers' notes for grades 8-12 are provided on symmetry. (MNS)

Activities that provide opportunities for students to investigate solving linear equations using both a physical and a pictorial model are given. Students should discover a method that will permit them to solve such equations at the symbolic level. (MNS)

Motivational classroom materials that provide direct instruction on problem-solving skills are given. The activity highlights and provides opportunities for practice with two problem-solving skills, make a drawing and work backward. (MNS)

This activity is designed to help students recognize and extend rectangular patterns and to use patterning to formulate rules for "nth" cases. Three worksheets are included. (MNS)

The estimation strategies of "using compatible numbers,""averaging," and "rounding" are used. The first two worksheets review easy arithmetic facts and ask students to identify compatible numbers. Worksheet Three introduces averaging and provides practice with rounding, while the fourth worksheet contains problems for group practice. (MNS)

Four worksheets are presented, each using cubes to develop students' spatial visualization abilities. Directions and answer keys are both included. (MNS)

Using four activity sheets, students learn to identify fractions that are easy to use in estimation situations. (MNS)