Creativity exercises, or creater-cizes, can help camp staff generate ideas and solve problems. Common techniques are brainstorming, story-boarding, analogies and metaphors, association and free association, spinning, and lists. Defines and gives examples of each technique. (SAS)

Describes two problem-solving activities for small groups that motivate through the use of sundials. Includes practical work. (ASK)

Explains the Big6 approach to information problem-solving based on exercises that were developed for college or upper high school students that can be completed during class sessions. Two of the exercises relate to personal information problems, and one relates Big6 skill areas to course assignments. (LRW)

Evaluates the use of modern CAD methods to solve geometric problems. Solves descriptive geometry problems using the layout and position of the successive auxiliary views from the projection of three-dimensional figures onto a two-dimensional plane of paper. (CCM)

Presents a problem for students in grades 1-6 concerning the concept of probability. Discusses the student problem-solving process, and provides some responses to the problem published in the January 1998 issue of this journal. (ASK)

Marbles were successfully used to help primary students develop concepts of motion. Marble-unit activities began with shaking and rattling inference bags and predicting by listening just how many marbles were in each bag. Students made qualitative and quantitative observations of the marbles, manipulated marbles with a partner, and observed…

Presents the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project's (UCMSP) Every Day Mathematics Program as one current reform-based elementary curriculum incorporating geometry throughout the K-6 curriculum, with an emphasis on hands-on and problem-solving activities. Measures the longitudinal effects of such an approach. (Author/CCM)

Describes nine group problem-solving and communication initiatives used in adventure- and experiential-education settings. Includes target group, group size, time and space requirements, activity level, props, instructions, and tips for post-activity group reflection and processing. Activities emphasize teamwork, communication skills, and a…

Shares two lessons in which students help teachers pose problems and discover the importance of posing problems properly. Presents a fifth-grade lesson in which students found a mistake in a proportion problem, and an eighth-grade lesson that discusses a geometry problem with insufficient information. (ASK)

Presents a student module modeling knowledge states and learning skills of students in the field of Newtonian dynamics. Uses data recorded during the exploratory activity in microworlds to infer mental representations concerning the concept of force. A fuzzy algorithm able to follow the cognitive states the student goes through in solving a task…

Describes a scientific mystery with an emphasis on chemical magic presented in the context of the characters Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. The story contains a break where students and teachers pause to ponder and solve the mystery. Sherlock Holmes provides his solution in the paragraphs following this break. (WRM)

Poses and solves several related extensions involving enumerating squares and rectangles. Describes how problem extensions can be developed and used in the classroom to motivate and challenge teachers and students to exert themselves mathematically. (ASK)

States that writing has become a major component of mathematics as a teaching, learning, and assessing mechanism of mathematical understanding. Presents some writing activities for mathematics classes and their advantages. (ASK)

Explains a series of laboratory activities which employ a microwave oven to help students understand word problems that relate to states of matter, collect data, and calculate and compare electrical costs to heat energy costs. (DDR)

Describes how successful study of mathematics requires a set of problem-solving processes that help students reason mathematically, offers a context in which students can communicate their reasoning, and provides opportunities for students to link their learning to prior mathematical contexts. Discusses the three basic processes of Krutetskii's…