Two experiments compared 10-year-olds' and adults' ability to choose positive and negative diagnostic tests over positive and negative nondiagnostic tests. Findings indicated that both age groups were more likely to prefer positive diagnostic tests over positive nondiagnostic tests, although only adults showed a significant preference for negative…

Recommends the use of puzzles to help elementary school children sharpen their problem solving skills. Describes the use of a Puzzle Day to promote problem solving. (DDR)

Describes an open-ended, inquiry-based chemistry lab in which students design and construct snow globes. Encourages the development of problem solving skills. (DDR)

Presents an interdisciplinary unit on consumer product testing. Introduces students to term bias in predictions and investigates the claims in advertisements with research to make a decision on products. (YDS)

Explored the relation of African American adolescents' deductive reasoning and school performance to socioeconomic status (SES), ethnicity, and self-esteem. High SES students outscored low SES students in reasoning performance and school grades. Better reasoning performance related to stronger ethnic identity. Self-esteem and grades were strongly…

Twelve teachers of the gifted who serve elementary English learners participated in focus groups designed to glean practitioner knowledge concerning effective approaches. Participating teachers characterized gifted English learners as enthusiastic, high-level thinkers. They recommended strategies consistent with identified needs and with the…

Discusses the use of spreadsheets for mathematical problem solving to help develop higher-level-thinking skills and foster an experimental attitude toward learning mathematics. An example is given of middle-school and high-school students investigating a number-structures problem. (LRW)

Provides activities that deal with Fibonacci-like sequences and guide students' thinking as they explore mathematical induction. Investigation leads to a discovery of an interesting relation that involves all Fibonacci-like sequences. (DDR)

Presents one approach to teaching that involves taking particular ways of thinking seriously and giving them top priority among various principles one needs for organizing mathematics (or other) curricula, allowing teachers to directly help students acquire selected thinking skills and aid acquisition of concepts, skills, and facts in content…

Three studies examined the ability of 8- and 9-year-olds and young adults to use sample monotonicity and diversity information according to the similarity-coverage model of category-based induction. Found that children's difficulty with this information was independent of category level, and may be based on preferences for other strategies…

Describes a mathematics trail created on the campus of Exeter Academy and in the town of Exeter, New Hampshire. A series of problems and puzzles enabled teachers to teach mathematics outdoors. Novel questions were created to permit students to look at things from a different perspective. Participants were often inspired to create questions of…

Presents solutions at several different levels of sophistication for a problem involving 10 stools arranged in a row at a diner: how many different ways can the ten stools be occupied, discounting which of three persons sit on any stool, so that at least one stool is between two people? (AIM)

Explores people's choice to avidly pursue one particular pole at the exclusion of its polar opposite or to shift their focus thoughtfully between poles. Claims that polarities need to be distinguished from either/or choices so that clients can maximize positive outcomes. Describes structure and flow of polarities and counseling interventions. (RJM)

A recent survey questions whether mathematics teachers in Arizona view math content as dynamic or process-oriented. Less than half used state curriculum guidelines, and few reported knowledge of National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' emphases on mathematical processes related to problem solving or reasoning. Teachers seem unaware of their…

Introduces a collection of mathematics activities that use Spain and Spanish culture as the setting for activities that involve graphing, estimation, logical reasoning, geometry, measurement, and computation. These activities are designed to appeal directly to students. (KHR)