Middle school students need opportunities to craft informal mathematical arguments beyond justification of steps in an algorithm. Pentominoes provide an excellent vehicle for such activity. In this article, the authors describe an exploration with pentominoes that engaged a group of ninth-grade students in proportional reasoning, dilation, and…

Students appear to be able to see number relationships and patterns but have difficulty recognizing the visual properties of shapes, especially if the shapes are in different positions. Their difficulty in the visual and spatial realm is often linked to a lack of drawing experience and possibly undeveloped fine-motor skills. The author, as a…

This article describes how spatial instruction with preservice teachers can be implemented in a middle-grades mathematics methods class. A "Reflect and Discuss" section is included for professional development study. (Contains 4 figures.)

This article illustrates how to integrate mathematics with social issues. Social issues discussed in the newspaper provide a rich context for connecting mathematical activities to the real world. The sample activities focus on measurement concepts. (Contains 2 figures.)

Presents activities in a context that promotes connections between students' experiences and new content and provides visual and/or physical links between informal knowledge and formal math ideas. (YDS)

Uses spatial visualization to make connections among Zeno's paradox, geometry, fractions, infinite series, and limits. (YDS)

Helps students develop new insights into mathematical relationships through alternative representations. Examines patterns, symbolic, and functions approaches. (Contains 11 references.) (YDS)

Spatial visualization is an important skill that deserves instructional attention. Strong evidence supports the claim that "measures of mathematical ability tend to be strongly correlated with spatial ability" (Anderson 2000). Thus, there is every reason to believe that time spent helping students develop their spatial visualization skills will…

Reports on a research project to use transformation geometry to give students an opportunity to work with proportions using visual models. (YDS)

This article describes a mathematical model that connects mathematics with social studies. Students use mathematics to model independent versus convoyed ship deployments and sinkings to determine if the British should have convoyed their merchant ships during World War I. During the war, the British admiralty opposed sending merchant ships grouped…