Offers examples of materials and activities that promote and guide math-learning opportunities in all areas of the classroom. Materials and activities relate to: (1) art center; (2) science and discovery center; (3) blocks; (4) library and writing centers; (5) music and movement; (6) manipulatives; (7) dramatic play; (8) outdoor play; and (9)…

Describes an activity that utilizes four pattern blocks to help students understand and explain perimeter. Engages students in making and supporting conjectures about a scenario that involves trains composed of various shapes with different perimeters. (DDR)

Describes two activities involving sorting, counting, and determining relationships that use sameness and difference, spatial skills, pattern identification, number bonds, and generalization. (DDR)

Describes a situation resulting from a research study on the use of Web-based manipulatives differed from the intuition of teachers. Discusses the reactions of the teachers who participated in the study and offers suggestions on what to do when research results differ from intuition. (KHR)

Described is a way to use knots to relate a three-dimensional object to a two-dimensional representation of the object. The results are used to produce an algorithm or rule to explain a general case. Included are examples, diagrams, procedures, and explanations. (KR)

Discusses the use of flexible straws for teaching properties of figures and families of shapes. Describes a way to make various two- or three-dimensional geometric shapes. Lists eight advantages of the method. (YP)

The article asserts that books on tape with sound illustrations (accurate narrative descriptions of graphics and photos) and tactile books stimulate visually impaired and blind children to better understand the physical world. (Author/DB)

Provided are activities for creating tangrams. Illustrates how to make tangrams and use them. (YP)

It is important for caregivers and teachers to attach a sense of ownership and permanency to all types of childrens' play in the preschool and kindergarten classroom. Six suggestions that teachers can use to accomplish this goal are offered. Two examples illustrate the topic. (BB)

Surveyed were 220 teachers in grades one-three in 11 states on their use of 11 devices for teaching mathematics. The percent of teachers who never or seldom used the listed manipulatives ranged from 40.8 to 74.7. (MNS)

A study compared the effectiveness of two methods of teaching clinical breast examination: standardized teaching from family medicine faculty or well women teachers (n=54 first-year students) and unstandardized teaching during clinical rotations (n=70 second-year students). The standardized-teaching group had more consistent techniques, higher…

Notes that many activities in early childhood classrooms offer opportunities for sensory learning that may be overlooked unless specific attention is directed toward these areas of learning. Suggests that teachers can increase these opportunities by using "feely" boxes or bags, which allow children to touch an object without seeing it. Various…

Presents a mathematics investigation in which students discover number patterns in physical structures and express their generalizations algebraically. (MKR)

Analysis of the role that (n=4) second graders' use of the hundred board played in supporting their conceptual development found that the board did not support the construction of increasingly sophisticated concepts of 10, but did support their ability to reflect on their mathematical activity. (54 references) (Author/MKR)

Provides the instructions to build a homemade calculator that can be used as a reinforcement device to assist primary students in memorizing their addition facts. (MDH)