In this paper, we address mathematics education in rural contexts from a critical pedagogical perspective. We imagine our audience to be mathematics educators and rural educators who may not have background knowledge of critical pedagogy. We also confess that we are mathematics educators first, with interests in critical pedagogy and rural…

Cross-national studies in mathematics have consistently reported that U.S. students do not perform as well as Asian students on tasks requiring the application of mathematical knowledge and skills routinely learned in school. Recent studies have shown, however, that for tasks assessing relatively novel and complex problem solving, performance…

Reviews recent research on problem solving, summarizing differences between problem-solving styles of novices and experts. Also describes a text by Daniel Solow ("How to Read and Do Proofs"). Includes chapter titles for the text useful for students who wish to improve their understanding of mathematical reasoning. (JM)

Summarizes the history of underwater acoustics and describes related research studies and teaching activities at the University of Birmingham (England). Also includes research studies on transducer design and mathematical techniques. (SK)

Loan and estimated payment problems are featured in this presentation of mathematics-oriented programing tasks designed for the beginning student. (MP)

Describes a summer program for prefreshman science students entering Xavier University, designed to develop their problem-solving and academic abilities by emphasizing the connection between reading comprehension and analytical skills. (MKM)

Challenging problems and project ideas for mathematically able students in grades 5 and 6 are reviewed. Number patterns are viewed as a good tool to introduce inductive and deductive thinking. Applications of mathematics in sales, the stock market, opinion polls, weather prediction, and other areas are discussed. (MP)

Demonstrates the use of technology to enhance the appreciation of applications involving abstract algebra. The symbolic manipulator Maple can perform computations required for a linear cryptosystem. One major benefit of this process is that students can encipher and decipher messages using a linear cryptosystem without becoming confused and…

Discusses the least squares technique and states the difficulty in finding suitable examples for using it in the chemical laboratory. Provides several least squares equations and the accompanying three dimensional drawings. Notes graphic lecture aids are available from the author as either slides or overheads. (MVL)

Provides a first experiment for college chemistry that provides insights into scientific procedures without presupposing any detailed knowledge of chemistry on the part of the student. Requires the student to measure successive masses and volumes and use these values to determine the density from the slope of the graph. (MVL)

Bringing the practice of knowing mathematics in school closer to knowing mathematics within the discipline was studied with 18 fifth graders. Student activities in asserting and examining hypotheses were contrasted with conventional school mathematics activities. (SLD)

Outlines an articulation program between college and industry. Describes three seminar courses using the college's computer system. Considers the benefits of the program. (Author/YP)

A FORTRAN program is provided for use with computer projects for a course in number theory. Uses diminishing functions and the speed of the computer to quickly determine possible solutions to problems. (MVL)

Describes five basic concepts, such as displacement, velocity, momentum, force, and moment of force. Discusses an experimental model to improve the intuitive understanding of acceleration in a straight line and a non-linear situation. (YP)

Studies whether students' stated preferences for flowcharts or pseudocodes match their actual behaviors. Provides a review of the literature on flowchart utility. Reports that students preferred flowcharts to pseudocodes. Lists an example of both a flowchart and pseudocode. (MVL)