Recent recommendations for the teaching of mathematics place an emphasis on the Common Core's Standards for Mathematical Practice (SMP) (CCSSI 2010). The SMPs emphasize constructing viable arguments, critiquing the ideas of others, reasoning abstractly and quantitatively, and using computational procedures. These skills, including the use of…

Aerial imagery has a great capacity to engage and maintain student interest while providing a contextual setting to strengthen their ability to reason proportionally. Free, on-demand, high-resolution, large-scale aerial photography provides both a bird's eye view of the world and a new perspective on one's own community. This article presents an…

Describes how middle school mathematics can be integrated with social studies using the United States map. (YDS)

Illustrates how the process of describing a trip by writing out map directions can help students develop the skills necessary to become proficient at solving linear equations. (YDS)

Describes a journal-writing project involving the best route to travel from one place to another and presents some student responses. (MKR)

Describes a graphing activity that promotes mathematical connections with social studies lessons. Students should be familiar with graphing on the Cartesian coordinate system to play this variation of the game Battleship on maps of various regions of the world. (AIM)