Tasks play an important role in mathematics education, as they provide opportunities for students to develop their competencies and to cognitively engage with the mathematical content. The potential for cognitive activation as a central feature of a mathematical task has been considered in numerous studies, mostly as a didactical analysis by means…

This short article continues the exploration of the Common Online Data Analysis Platform (CODAP) and statistics begun in the previous article "Statistical Investigations and CODAP, Part 1: EDA." In Part 2, the author discusses the teaching of statistical inference focusing on activities for the senior secondary years. In particular, the…

In this article, a mathematics teacher educator presents an activity designed to pique the interest of prospective secondary mathematics teachers who may doubt the value of learning abstract algebra for their chosen profession. Herein, he contemplates: what "is" intended by the widespread requirement that high school mathematics teachers…

Research shows that students often struggle with understanding empirical sampling distributions. Using hands-on and technology models and simulations of problems generated by real data help students begin to make connections between repeated sampling, sample size, distribution, variation, and center. A task to assist teachers in implementing…

Discusses several measures of success for a simple game. Describes ways in which comparisons between players and comparisons between a player and simulation can be made. (Author/ASK)

Provides a classroom exercise and an example for illustrating the central limit theorem. (ASK)

Presents an activity to help students understand and appreciate the use of diagrams, particularly dot plots and stem-and-leaf diagrams. (ASK)

Issues of measurement are fundamental in statistics but are often overlooked in introductory courses. Presents an interactive exercise that encourages students to think critically about how things are measured and to realize that deciding how to measure something can determine the outcome of an investigation. (Author/ASK)

This paper describes a project one teacher assigns to Calculus I students at the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland. The project is introduced to the students early in the semester and requires the use of technology, team work, and the completion of an extensive writing component. The goal of the project…

Benjamin Banneker, a self-taught African American mathematician, kept a journal containing a number of mathematical puzzles. Explores four of these puzzles, 200 years later, with the aid of 21st century technology. (Author/NB)

The concept of confidence intervals is difficult for students to grasp. Describes an activity that helps students understand what it means to have confidence in a process. (Author/ASK)

Discusses simple tools for digitizing objects of interest from image files for treatment in other software such as graph plotters, data-handling software, or graphic calculators. Explores methods using MS Paint, Excel, DigitiseImage and TI Interactive (TII). (Author/NB)

Describes a combinatorics problem involving pizza toppings. Includes three activity sheets. (Author/NB)

Describes a calculus review game based on the popular game show "Wheel of Fortune." (Author/NB)

Revisits and discusses the polar bear problem that was published in the March 1997 issue. The problem concerns a riddle: If you walk one mile south, one mile east, and one mile north, and end up in the same spot as you started, what kind of bear would you see? (ASK)