Describes a class trip to the Crow Canyon Archaeology Center in Cortez, Colorado. Students analyzed artifacts mathematically and participated in digs. Discusses organizing the lesson and assessment. (MKR)

Presents sample newspaper activities to help students find applications of classroom-taught skills and to give students practice in reading, thinking, discussing, and writing about mathematics. (MKR)

Discusses five problems concerning Newton's law of universal gravitation. Provides detailed answers to each question. (MVL)

Students construct a Sierpinski gasket from resistors and measure its resistance as a function of size. Provides a brief review of what it means geometrically for the Sierpinski gasket to be fractal, followed by an explanation of how to analyze the electrical resistance on a gasket to find its fractal behavior. (MVL)

Discusses Einstein's equation relating mass and energy highlighting these questions: (1) Can mass and energy be converted into one another? (2) What is the origin of the equation? (3) How do relativistic mass and rest mass relate? and (4) How is relativistic mass used in resulting equations? (MVL)

Discusses the use of software created for practical, real-world applications to connect mathematics to other subjects and to the world outside the classroom. Software presented includes Design Your Own Home, Bridgebuilder, Physics Explorer, Aldus Superpaint, and Sprout. (MKR)

Discusses an alternative form of the quadratic formula to solve quadratic equations. Presents an application to chemistry to illustrate the need for quadratic formulas better suited to approximations obtained using hand-held calculators. Addresses the problems of rounding errors, accuracy of solutions, and factoring as a method of solution. (MDH)

Proposes the utilization of graph theory to solve optimization problems. Defines the notion of spanning trees and presents two algorithms to determine optimization of a spanning tree. Discusses an example to connect towns by power transmission lines at minimum cost. (MDH)

Describes the geometric concepts involved in two construction tools used in ancient Egypt. A level is used to make a construction horizontal, and the plumb level is used to make a construction vertical. (MDH)

Presented are eight student worksheets of block problems. Included are diagrams of the squares and hollow squares involved and a separate answer sheet for the problems. (CW)

Describes the "Two-Eight" instructional model for students who have arithmetic computational skills but lack the ability to select appropriate strategies to solve problems. Offers examples showing the replacement of the actual values used in a word problem with the simple numeric values of 2 and 8 to create a parallel, solvable problem. (DMM)

Presents the equations of motion governing the trajectory of a cricket ball subject to a linear drag force. Uses a perturbation expansion technique to solve the resulting trajectory equation for the range of a cricket ball struck into the outfield. (Author/ASK)

Examines how the inclusion of everyday mathematics into classroom instruction can make mathematics more meaningful to students. Reviews concepts of mathematical meaningfulness and compares them to experiences of children learning about money at home and at school. Concludes that certain kinds of differences between everyday and school mathematics…

Presents a hands-on activity in which students use the tools to derive the basic procedure used by wildlife biologists worldwide for estimating the sizes of wildlife populations. Helps students gain the feelings of power and ownership of a statistical method that they derive themselves. (ASK)

Alternative forms of evaluation can provide deep and powerful learning experiences for students. Explains how to implement portfolios as an evaluation tool and describes a problem that was successfully implemented in a second semester reform calculus class. (Author/ASK)