A secretary has "n" letters and "n" addressed envelopes. Instead of matching each letter with the corresponding envelope, she inserts the letters in a random manner. What are the chances that every letter will be in the wrong envelope? In this article, the author presents a solution to this problem and discusses possible ways of placing the…

Young Filipino students are expected to solve mathematical word problems in English, a language that many encounter only in schools. Using individual interviews of 17 Filipino children, we investigated why word problems in English are difficult and the extent to which the language interferes with performance. Results indicate that children could…

Newman (1977, 1983) defined five specific literacy and numeracy skills as crucial to performance on mathematical word problems: reading, comprehension, transformation, process skills, and encoding. Newman's Error Analysis (NEA) provided a framework for considering the reasons that underlay the difficulties students experienced with mathematical…

Important tools that schools need to support a 21st century approach to teaching and learning include the usual suspects: the Internet, pen and paper, cell phones, educational games, tests and quizzes, good teachers, caring communities, educational funding, and loving parents. All of these items and more contribute to a 21st century education, but…

In this article, the authors describe an inexpensive and simple way to make students intuitively experience the probabilistic nature and nonorientated motion of diffusing particles. This understanding allows students to realize why diffusion works so well over short distances and becomes increasingly and rapidly less effective as the distances…

Students who otherwise seem unreachable through traditional approaches to algebra require some alternative teaching methods. So do teachers who seek to add elements of freshness and innovation to their classrooms or who simply appreciate variety. This article offers some unconventional techniques for teaching a few conventional algebra topics.…

This paper discusses some difficulties in teaching introductory courses to programming, paying particular attention to their mathematical nature. We consider some aspects, which have not been commented in detail in textbooks and often neglected by course outlines and schedules. Some of these are constructing complex conditions, exceeding array…

Problem-solving skills are imperative to a child's growth and success across multiple environments, including general and special education. Problem solving is comprised of: (a) attention to the critical aspects of a problem, (b) generation of solution(s) to solve the problem, (c) application of a solution(s) to the identified problem, and…

Problem-based learning (PBL) has been embraced by several veterinary colleges as one approach to manage the ever-growing body of knowledge in the profession. The goal is to foster the development of problem-solving and critical thinking skills in students, enabling them to make logical and informed decisions, rather than rely on the rote…

Gestures are profoundly integrated into our communication. This study focuses on the impact that gestures have in a mathematical setting, specifically in an undergraduate calculus workshop. There was strong correlation between diagramming and the two types of gestures identified in this study (i.e., dynamic and static gestures). Dynamic and static…

This article discusses an instructional strategy which explores eventual similarities and/or analogies between familiar problems and more sophisticated systems. In this context, the Atwood's machine problem is used to introduce students to more complex problems involving ropes and chains. The methodology proposed helps students to develop the…

Chronic disruptive behaviors during early childhood are associated with many poor developmental outcomes including, but not limited to, school dropout and conduct disorder during adolescence. Much is known regarding effective intervention procedures for disruptive classroom behaviors by preschool children. Unfortunately, evidence-based…

The problem of communication between observers in the vicinity of a black hole in a Schwarzschild metric is considered. The classic example of an infalling observer Alice and a static distant mother station (MS) is extended to include a second infalling observer Bob, who follows Alice in falling towards the event horizon. Kruskal coordinates are…

The Solution Circle (SC) approach is a flexible tool which encourages participants to maintain a positive, creative approach to problem-solving. This project focussed on the introduction of this approach to staff in a primary and a secondary school. The rationale was to implement a problem-solving/discussion tool that would allow staff to utilise…

This study was an exploratory study of 34 South Korean early childhood educators' strategies for addressing behavior problems in natural settings. Factors related to teachers' strategy implementation were also explored. Four specific teacher behaviors were observed: precorrection, behavioral-specific praise, redirection, and reprimand/punishment.…