This article describes students learning to build their own numbering system by recognizing and identifying patterns with interlocking cubes in different place values. The students used the Egyptian hieroglyphic numeral system in conjunction with this activity to connect learning in other subjects. Students used prior knowledge of place value to…

Prospective elementary school teachers (PTs) come to their mathematics courses fluent in using procedures for adding and subtracting multidigit whole numbers, but many are unaware of the essential features inherent in understanding the base-ten place-value system (i.e., grouping, place value, base). Understanding these features is crucial to…

The "Reasoning Algebraically about Operations Casebook" was developed as the key resource for participants' Developing Mathematical Ideas seminar experience. The thirty-four cases, written by teachers describing real situations and actual student thinking in their classrooms, provide the basis of each session's investigation into the…

Much of the difficulty that students encounter in the transition from arithmetic to algebra stems from their early learning and understanding of arithmetic. Too often, students learn about the whole number system and the operations that govern that system as a set of procedures to solve addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems.…

The goal of this study was to describe characteristic stages in the development of children's understanding of place value. Sixty children (15 in each grade, 2 through 5) at 5 elementary schools in Butte County, California, were individually administered 18 tasks designed to reveal their thinking about place value and part-whole relations. On six…

Presents an insightful approach to algebra that enhances both personal and classroom communication through the process of solving a linear equation. (KHR)

Presents a covariation approach to learning exponential and logarithmic functions based on a primitive multiplicative operation labeled splitting that is not repeated addition. Suggests that students need the opportunity to build a number system from splitting structures and their geometric forms. (30 references) (MKR)

The question is raised: What comes first: rules of calculation or the meaning of concepts? The pressures on the teacher to teach and simplify knowledge to algorithms are discussed. The relation between conceptual and procedural knowledge in school mathematics and consequences for the teacher's professional knowledge are considered. (DC)

Describes the construction of a children's calendar for use in school, including development of time concepts, devising event-recording systems, daily and weekly schedules of events, multiple-week schedules of events, and a day-date calendar. (MKR)

It is difficult for students to unlearn misconceptions that have been unknowingly reinforced by teachers. The examples "multiplication makes bigger,""pi equals 22/7," and the use of counter examples to demonstrate the numerical property of closure are discussed as potential areas where misconceptions are fostered. (MDH)

Two major ways to view the numbers to 100 are counting by ones and grouping by tens and ones. Research suggests that early understanding of numbers comes from counting and that place value instruction cannot be hurried. (PK)

Describes the development, refinement, and validation of a framework for nurturing and assessing multidigit number sense in young children. Major constructs incorporated were counting, partitioning, grouping, and number relationships. The framework was validated through case studies of six first-grade children. (30 references) (MKR)

Thirty-six Korean first graders were interviewed to study their ability solving addition problems with sums of 10, single-digit sums between 10 and 18, and subtraction problems with minuends between 10 and 18. Finger methods to show sums over 10 and the regular named-10 Korean number words supported their learning of 3 efficient recomposition…

The numeracy handbook is a practical guide for teachers of numeracy and literacy to learners of English as a Second Language. Focus is on teaching numeracy and integrating numeracy and literacy. It considers issues in defining and teaching numeracy, examines numeracy in the workplace, designing a course and a unit of work, and analyzes numeracy…