The Mathematics Pentathlon is a tournament of mathematics games held each spring since 1979 to promote the development of mathematical concepts and skills while fostering interaction among the educational community. There are five games in each of four divisions, for grades K-1, 2-3, 4-5, and 6-7. The focus is on active problem solving and…

A set of teaching and workshop materials has been developed to illustrate the different uses of mathematics in high school mathematics and science classes. It consists of this packet of workshop activities with detailed instructions on how to use them in a combined mathematics-science workshop and a related set of problems (with solutions) that…

Activities in this edited volume of reprints from the Mathematics Teacher were selected in response to recommendations made by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics for improving curriculum content. Specific areas addressed are problem solving, expanding basic skills, using calculators, using computers, and using manipulatives. Each…

This monograph is designed to give people engaged in human service activities some new and fresh ideas on how to handle stress, how to benefit from its positive aspects, and how to neutralize its detrimental effects. Part 1 provides a background statement and refers readers to an extensive bibliography provided at the end of the paper for those…

This issue explains the concept of externalities (benefits or burdens which accrue to society when there is a difference between the private cost or benefit of an action and the social cost or benefit of that action). These external or social costs of individual actions are often referred to as spillover costs. Three brief teaching units follow…

This teaching guide begins with an explanation of the role of money in the economy, focusing on its circulation or exchange. The use of money as a unit of account, a store of value, and a medium of exchange are explained. Three brief teaching units are included. The grade K-2 unit, "Money Counts," provides games and activities which develop the…

Business case studies, descriptions of management problems or decisions that require students to analyze and decide on an appropriate course of action, are suitable for classroom study of commercial language because the technique emphasizes situational analysis and communicative activities such as role playing. The principles underlying the case…

One of a series of developmental projects that have produced and evaluated applications of an advanced multimedia, computer-based technology for basic skills education for Army enlisted personnel, this project focused on the development of an integrated curriculum to teach learning strategies and problem-solving skills. The first task was to…

This pre-school through grade 12 environmental education learning continuum was designed to help educators with a systematic method which develops an environmental ethic among students. It consists of: (1) preschool through third-grade activities (which stress environmental awareness and sensitivity); (2) intermediate level activities (which give…

In this paper the theory that human thinking proceeds according to the computer model, or symbol manipulation, is reviewed and challenged. The research used as subjects five highly rated tournament chess players who "thought aloud" during a chess game to provide tape recorded protocols of decisions made while playing. These protocols…

This paper presents evidence to indicate that spontaneously generated analogies can play a significant role in the problem solving process of scientifically trained individuals. In addition, it is suggested that these individuals exhibit more than one method for generating analogies. Ten scientists (representing physics, mathematics, and computer…

In this study 34 spontaneous analogies produced by 16 college freshmen while solving qualitative physics problems are analyzed. A number of the analogies were invalid in the sense that they led to an incorrect answer from the physicist's point of view. However, many were valid, and a few were powerful in the sense that they seemed not only to help…

When children are curious they are willing to investigate the less self-evident properties of matter. It is hoped as deeper explanations and relationships are explored, children learn analytic, critical, and creative skills for later application to phenomena encountered in life. A concern of elementary science teaching is motivating learning or…

Predicated on the belief that current methods for assessing literacy give policymakers too narrow a view of performance and should be augmented by the informed professional judgment of classroom teachers, this report appraises how well schools in the United States are meeting the goal of a literate populace. The report seeks to improve…

The application of recent advances in the understanding of problem solving to the classroom is reviewed. Current research findings are described, and the instructional validity of these findings is illustrated by a research study of an instructional strategy called novice knowledge engineering. How various instructional strategies serve as…