This collection of activities is designed to show how graphics display calculators can be used to foster algebraic thinking in middle school students. The collection consists of five activities addressing such topics as functions, estimation and scatterplots, and patterns. Blackline masters for the activities are included. (MM)

This paper describes a project one teacher assigns to Calculus I students at the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland. The project is introduced to the students early in the semester and requires the use of technology, team work, and the completion of an extensive writing component. The goal of the project…

Discusses the card game Numero and its use in the classroom to teach mathematics. Includes a pack of playing cards, an instructor's booklet, and an instructional video. Advocates using Numero as a teaching tool as it is adaptable to all ages. (NB)

Uses number sense to involve students in calendar activities based on the Julian and Gregorian calendars. (YDS)

Describes the construction and use of the "fraction computer," a simple manipulative that helps pupils understand how to add and subtract unlike, unrelated fractions. (YDS)

Benjamin Banneker, a self-taught African American mathematician, kept a journal containing a number of mathematical puzzles. Explores four of these puzzles, 200 years later, with the aid of 21st century technology. (Author/NB)

Describes an activity in which students develop personal units of measurement to compare standard and nonstandard measurements. (YDS)

Presents activities on measurement using the metric system. (YDS)

Discusses the basic features of the Building Blocks preschool mathematics curriculum including the research on which it was based, activities, and field-test results. (Author/NB)

Identifies and addresses fundamental ideas that build the foundations of algebraic thinking and reasoning. Focuses on developing appropriate instructional approaches to these concepts. Explains what is meant by "composite unit" and how this concept framed the development of an instructional sequence to help students make sense of and find meaning…

Discusses the importance of connecting mathematics to real world situations. Presents a mathematical activity in which students decide how many states touch each other by counting the bordering states on the map. (ASK)

Describes the fundamentals of dimensionality and the relationships of the elements in a four-dimensional coordinate system. Outlines a number of analogies between the elements and techniques for creating images of one-point perspective. Describes two of the ways in which realistic imagery can be used to illustrate the relationships in a…

Introduces the Sharp EL-9600 graphing calculator and its capabilities, and discusses its possible uses in mathematics classrooms. (ASK)

The concept of confidence intervals is difficult for students to grasp. Describes an activity that helps students understand what it means to have confidence in a process. (Author/ASK)

Explores middle school students' understanding of area and perimeter. Concludes that students need to construct visual representations of figures with given areas and perimeters, generate related word problems, and justify properties to grasp the concepts of area and perimeter. (ASK)