Comparisons made between art and mathematics so often centre on the beauty of mathematics and how its forms might be seen as aesthetically pleasing. Yet the prominence of beauty as an attribute is less prevalent in contemporary art. Rather, art has a much broader scope of concern, perhaps with a greater emphasis on providing apparatus through…

Big things come in small packages. This saying came to the mind of the author after he created a simple math review activity for his fourth grade students. Though simple, it has proven to be extremely advantageous in reinforcing math concepts. He uses this activity, which he calls "Show What You Know," often. This activity provides the perfect…

In this article, the authors talk about transformation geometry being treated as little more than a set of tricks rather than as a mathematically rigorous topic. This appears to lead to pupils seeing little point in studying "reflections, rotations and translations" as other than examinable items in some future test. Following the argument…

In the mid-1800s, Englishman John Venn invented a type of diagram to help visualize logical relationships. A Venn diagram is simply a rectangular box with circular loops in it that overlap to show how objects are related. This article describes activities with Venn diagrams that can be a fun way to sharpen students' logic skills and develop number…

Mathematical contests should be decentralized to allow access to non competitive activities so as to enable students to participate and succeed in Mathematics. These activities should be compellingly interesting so that students enjoy learning about proofs and abstract structures rather than just solving problems.

In this article, the author relates how she designed a math activity she called Beads to use in conjunction with their school's 100th day celebration. Beads has provided her kindergarten class with many opportunities to practice a variety of math skills - counting, patterning, sorting, comparing, making sets, predicting, identifying numerals,…

Another way to divide a line segment discovered by Nathan Besteman is described along with Euclid's and the GLaD construction. The related projects and problems that teachers of geometry can assign to their students are also presented.

Presents an activity for weaving polyhedron shapes out of paper strips. (MVL)

Presents responses to a problem appearing in the December, 1998 issue on the concept of determining all possibilities for colored and numbered wristbands for students. (ASK)

Discusses using Alan Bell's "Principles for the Design of Teaching" with student teachers. Discusses choosing genuine and substantial mathematical activities, exposing and resolving cognitive conflict, using flexible tasks in which the degree of challenge can be adjusted or a single starting point can develop into multiple tasks, using feedback,…

Mathematics truly is magical, especially for students with strong number sense and algebra skills. This paper describes a variety of mathematical surprises that will capture students' interest and motivate exploration of mathematical ideas. While the tricks themselves are fascinating, push students to think about the reasons why these stunning…

Defines virtual manipulatives and stresses their advantages for classroom use. Presents examples on the Internet and discusses current and potential use of virtual manipulatives. (KHR)

Investigates the effects of computers and Internet technology on teaching and learning. Presents electronic examples that integrate well with high-quality mathematics instructional programs. (KHR)

This paper discusses a pedagogical technique called the discovery approach in teaching remedial and college algebra. Examples of how to introduce and enhance some algebra topics using this approach in mathematics classrooms are illustrated. It is argued that student performance would improve if more topics were presented in a discovery fashion.…

Diversity can be introduced in algebra without needing extra time. Explores three opportunities to encounter and engage diversity: (1) history; (2) multiple representations; and (3) object concept of function. (ASK)