The assessment problems in this guide offer K-2 teachers a beginning toward building a bank of math tasks that measure whether or not their students are becoming better problem solvers. The problems can be used as tools to use when teaching the strategies of effective problem solving and as informal assessments to help teachers see what their…

This book is divided into eight sections. Section One, "A New Look at Mathematics: Rationale and Strategies for Reforming Mathematics", includes: An Overview of Mathematics Reform; Management for Computation Skills; Math Strategies for Individualized or Small Group Instruction; Math Strands Planning Activity; and Performance Assessment. Section…

An effective curriculum gives students the opportunity to perceive relationships among different topics in mathematics, use mathematics in their everyday lives, and apply mathematical thinking and problem solving to other curriculum areas. This book contains fun and creative ways to integrate mathematics across the curriculum with a diversity of…

This paper reports on a pilot study of 34 sixth-grade students engaged in mathematical explorations that was carried out in the context of a national Logo project in Costa Rica. Students worked in pairs investigating a mathematical microworld written in Logo. The investigation had three phases: (1) open exploration of the microworld, during which…

The 18 brief articles contained in this booklet reflect an attempt by science and math teachers in Nevada to explore ways to rekindle the exhileration of discovery for themselves and their students that began with the knolwedge explosion that followed the launching of Sputnik in 1957 but that was eventually washed away in a flood of…

Various researchers have associated meaningful problem solving with methods guided directly by a conceptual knowledge base. By contast, a meaningless solving course, or sequence of operations, is essentially independent of the solver's conceptual understanding of the problem under consideration. This paper is the first to document a meaningless,…

This book discusses four kinds of graphs that are taught in mathematics at the middle school level: pictographs, bar graphs, line graphs, and circle graphs. The chapters on each of these types of graphs contain information such as starting, scaling, drawing, labeling, and finishing the graphs using "LogoWriter." The final chapter of the…

Diagnostic score reports linking assessment outcomes to instructional interventions are one of the most requested features of assessment products. There is a body of interesting work done in the last 20 years including Tatsuoka's rule space method (Tatsuoka, 1983), Haertal and Wiley's binary skills model (Haertal, 1984; Haertal & Wiley, 1993),…

This practicum addressed the importance of the development of problem solving skills in primary age children. Students need to practice recognizing the problem, deciding what steps are necessary in solving the problem, evaluating the solution, and revising the steps, when necessary. Summer camp computer students who were entering second grade…

A study examined developmental differences in students' recognition of the types of explanations that help most in mathematics peer-group interactions. Scripted interactions of eight male and eight female dyads working on math problems were videotaped. In each interaction one actor in the dyad would request non-specific assistance and the other…

Based on the premise that exposure to science and technology is important in early childhood curricula, this guide was developed to help teachers incorporate mathematics, sciences, and technology-related activities into existing programs. Activities contained in this guide focus on concepts in the physical sciences and in the development of…

This paper considers the possibilities of using computers not only to amplify, but to reorganize children's thinking and mental functioning. These two different conceptualizations of the transformational role of noncomputer cognitive technologies (such as written language) in human intelligence and cognitive change are sketched, and the different…

The Helping Hands Project (HHP) is a program that aims at improving achievement in reading comprehension and in math problem-solving by helping the classroom teacher sustain instructional intensity. Implemented in grades four and six in two Newark School District elementary schools, HHP involved five teachers and 117 students. Ninety-two percent…

A discussion of the relationship between second language proficiency and mathematics performance argues that the learning of a second language and mathematics can be effectively integrated. The conditions conducive to second language acquisition in mathematics contexts, the communicative competence needed for mathematics, and the link between…

This report summarizes a five-volume research report on the classroom use and impact of ThinkAbout, an instructional television series designed to strengthen the reasoning skills of fifth and sixth graders and to review and reinforce language arts, mathematics, and study skills. It describes results of a 1979-80 research study which used three…