Connecting theory and practice in teaching is sometimes difficult, as it requires expensive or delicate equipment, thus limiting the teacher to giving demonstrations in which students are passive participants. Numerical mathematics, as an applied discipline, should be taught on real world examples. By using inexpensive Arduino hardware, we can…

The purpose of this study was to examine four pre-service middle and high school mathematics teachers' understanding of the directly and inversely proportional relationships presented through hands-on and real-world missing-value word problems. The problems included single and multiple proportions, and the PSTs were provided with plastic gears and…

The purpose of this paper is to propose an "operational" idea for developing algebraic thinking in the absence of alphanumeric symbols. The paper reports on a design experiment encouraging preschool children to use the associative property algebraically. We describe the theoretical basis of the design, the tasks used, and examples of…

This is an account of events in a real classroom when the notion that there is a distinction between calculation by counting, and calculation by structuring is a focus for learning. Pupils have "hands-on" experiences that support their understanding of "number". The teaching "aid" might be unfashionable in…

How can children's natural perceptuo-motor skills be harnessed for teaching and learning mathematical structure? We address this question in the case of the integers. Existing research suggests that adult mental representations of integers recruit perceptuo-motor functionalities involving symmetry. Building on these findings, we designed a…

The number charts described in this article have been used successfully with elementary students as young as first graders to teach the concepts of even and odd numbers. Students construct charts and then answer a series of questions about the patterns that they observe. (RH)

A list of materials needed and step-by-step directions for constructing an abacus are given. Instructions are provided which tell how to use the abacus in teaching number combinations and in working addition, multiplication, subtraction, and division problems. (Related documents are SE 015 950 and SE 015 952.) (DT)

The Minnesota School Mathematics and Science Teaching (MINNEMAST) Project is characterized by its emphasis on the coordination of mathematics and science in the elementary school curriculum. Units are planned to provide children with activities in which they learn various concepts from both subject areas. Each subject is used to support and…

A collection of articles from the ARITHMETIC TEACHER is presented which are about practical, classroom-tested ideas for the instruction and use of teacher-made instructional aids. These entries deal only with manipulative type aids. They have been selected for the clarity of purpose and relationship to contemporary topics in the elementary school…

This monograph attempts to provide the teacher with examples, techniques, and tips for developing order in number. Topics covered include pre-number order and classification; beginning number activities; number lines; the 100-square counting chart; ordering the integers; fractional numbers; and games, counting rhymes, and other activities. A…

Presented are the results of an investigation of stimulus integration capabilities of three- and four-year-old children in judgments of small and large numbers. There is much evidence that suggested young children have a concept of number for small numbers, but not for large ones. A concept of number was hypothesized by Piaget to rest on the…

Two essays examine the number aspect of mathematics learning for three- to five-year olds. The first contextualizes the research and reviews its progress, focusing on how children learn in contexts where numbers occur incidentally, and on developing appropriate ways of challenging children to solve problems. The second essay presents a case study…

Some useful approaches to assist students with the uncertainty of measurement and the necessity of significant figures through age conversion exercise and activity are presented. It showed that while two people might be born on the same date, they are not born at the same instant once, it considers the birth time to an appropriate number of…