Drawing from research and observations at Lansing Community College (Michigan) (LCC), this paper argues that typical arithmetic courses do little to prepare students to master algebra, and proposes an alternative set of arithmetic skills as actual prerequisites to algebra. The first section offers a description of the algebra sequence at LCC,…

Elementary school activities designed for celebraing the significant dates of each school month, excluding December, are described in this compilation. The collection covers birthdays of well-known people, historical events, mathematics, writing, reading, science, history, social studies, art, and cooking. (JW)

G. L. Anderson reported finding an interaction between drill and meaningful methods of instruction with fourth grade student ability and achievement. The reanalysis overturns Anderson's conclusion that there is an aptitude treatment interaction within classes. (BJG)

The author finds that students who have not previously mastered arithmetic skills do not benefit from an individualized review course. He describes such a course and presents four case studies in support of his position. (SD)

This booklet describes basic counting principles and provides activities designed to develop basic skills in: (l) stable ordering; (2) one-to-one matching; (3) total number; (4) different objects; and (5) different order. These are extended to more advanced strategies aimed at building counting skills strong enough to provide a basis for adding,…

Chapters 5 through 10 of a 14-chapter, three-volume work on arithmetical applications are contained in this document. Each chapter details the "use classes" of one broad arithmetical concept. (A "use class" of a concept is a set of examples of real world uses of the concept which share a common structure). Each chapter…

The problem of sex bias in mathematics word problems is discussed, with references to the appropriate literature. Word problems are assessed via cognitive science analysis of word problem solving. It has been suggested that five basic semantic relations are adequate to classify nearly all story problems, namely, change, combine, compare, vary, and…

Considered is a conceptual analog of buggy algorithms and rule-based mathematical development. The investigations consider whether children's efforts to make conceptual sense of new mathematics instruction in terms of their available knowledge may sometimes lead them to make systematic errors. In particular, the possibility is explored that…

Accurate and automatic production of the basic number combinations is a major objective of elementary mathematics education. Typically, it is not an objective that is easily and quickly attained. Indeed, teachers regularly lament about how difficult it is to get their students to master the basic "number facts." This problem may be due,…

"ARITHMETIC 400" is the first of the next generation of educational programs designed to encourage thinking about arithmetic problems. Presented in video game format, performance is a measure of correctness, speed, accuracy, and fortune as well. Play presents a challenge to individuals at various skill levels. The program, run on an Apple…

In order to describe developments in children's conceptions of numbers and numerical relations, judgments of similarities between numbers were solicited from adults and from children in kindergarten and grades 3 and 6. A nonmetric multidimensional scaling analysis suggested that children gradually become sensitive to an expanding set of numerical…

This study examined the school arithmetic development of three groups of students from an urban school district who differed in performance on precisely described number tasks on entry into first grade. The investigation followed pupils' arithmetic development to the completion of third grade, for those normally promoted each year. The two major…

Following instructions provided in the teacher's manual, the SCOPE Mathematics Achievement Test booklet for grade 3 presents 11 mathematical concepts. Testing items include: skip counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's to 100, 3's to 30, and 4's to 40; writing number words to 20; identifying and naming 100's, 10's, and 1's in three-digit numerals; reading…

The SCOPE Mathematics Achievement Test booklet for grade 3-s contains the same testing items as the test booklet for grade 3. This booklet is more suitable for the more mature student; therefore, directions have been written to permit the student to take the test with little or no teacher direction. (ERB)

This textbook is based on the SMSG kindergarten and first grade materials as a framework. This special edition is designed to meet the needs of disadvantaged children. Chapters in the book include: (1) Sets and Numbers; (2) Numerals and the Number Line; (3) Sets of Ten; and (4) Introduction to Addition and Subtraction. The student text contains a…