Development in the ability of 11-year-olds to solve numerical problems of addition, multiplication, and proportion was analysed by means of three Rasch models of change. The students, who had participated in a New Zealand numeracy project in 2002, comprised two groups that differed in socio-economic status: 1,274 students came from low…

This resource book contains mathematical games, tricks, and quick activities for the classroom. Categories include computation and calculator practice, manipulative challenges, puzzlers, picky puzzlers, patterns, measurement, money, time tricks, calendar quips, crazy computing, and riddles. Twenty-nine games, tricks, and activities are found in…

Although it takes only 2 years to attain conversational competence in a second language, it takes up to 7 years to realize sufficient language competence to achieve academically at the level of native speakers. Specific adaptations in instructional methods in mathematics for language minority students should include techniques from English as a…

Mathematical skills and reasoning and their applications are considered as forming one of the basic and essential areas of knowledge and experience that should be available to all Australian children. This collection of essays explaining problem solving in mathematics as an organizing theme for current and future curriculum development is a means…

Reviews of relevant research on the application of operations research and statistics that appeared prior to 1980 are compared with those appearing in the early 1980s. In summary, both explicit and implicit users of mathematics in educational administration see it as a tool that essentially brings order and generalizability to administrative data.…

Through individual interviews with remedial and precalculus university students, five characteristics of the student were identified that influence whether a diagram is used in solving a problem and whether its use is successful. The interviews also suggested a set of subskills that contribute to the overall ability to draw effective diagrams.…

Numerous research studies over the past five years indicate that a high percentage of college students have severe deficiencies in their ability to use mathematics as a language for representing simple quantitative relationships. In the United States these problems are nearly as common among students with strong computational skills in algebra and…

In product engineering there often arise design analysis problems for which a commercial software package is either unavailable or cost prohibitive. Further, these calculations often require successive iterations that can be time intensive when performed by hand, thus development of a software application is indicated. This case relates to the…

These two modules cover aspects of the coding process and algebraic coding theory. The first unit defines coding as a branch of information and communication science, which draws extensively upon many diverse mathematical fields, primarily abstract and linear algebra, number theory, probability and statistics, and combinatorial theory. Aspects of…

This document consists of five units which all view applications of mathematics to American politics. The first three view calculus applications, the last two deal with applications of algebra. The first module is geared to teach a student how to: 1) compute estimates of the value of the parameters in negative exponential models; and draw…

This report is concerned with the observation that many teenagers and adults are unable to apply arithmetic even when they know how to perform the operations. It is speculated that this is probably due to not having been taught when to use the fundamental operations. Examples of types of "real" problems which require the various…

In an attempt to prepare students for units analysis in the solution of problems in high school chemistry and physics, the author developed learning packets on the factor label method. Thirty-three students used these packets individually during a regular tenth-grade geometry class. There were two packets, each to be used for two days. Prior to…

Five activity lessons are proposed to present applications of probability and to exhibit its use in conjunction with statistics as a major decision-making and problem-solving tool. (MP)

The possibilities that magazines have to offer in the teaching of mathematics with consumer-related problems are discussed. (JT)

The authors trace the growing concern over mathematics and its relationship to other disciplines in the curriculum of the secondary schools from the early 1960's. The case is then argued for a mathematics curriculum in which students become heavily involved in solving problems which are interdisciplinary and are real and of interest to them. (MN)