Describes several activities and games that provide an introduction to the concept of function. Suggests that experiences should depend more on students' experiences and understanding and less on the memorization of unmotivated conventions with abstract symbols. Includes activities for a calculator as a function machine, composite functions, and…

Presents a lesson on the scale of the solar system that focuses on measurement, exponential notation, proportionality, and ratios. (Contains 17 references.) (Author/ASK)

Promotes the use of logistic modeling in high school and early college mathematics, to compare this model to commonly used models, and to give an alternative to the TI-83 built-in logistic-regression key method when that method fails to converge or gives an inappropriate model. (ASK)

Presents two programs for the TI-83 to conduct the chi-square goodness-of-fit test in an elementary statistics course or any other course that might require students to conduct hypothesis tests relative to some frequency distribution. (ASK)

There is ample evidence that positive involvement of families in children's learning can be a major contribution. Where to start is often a challenge, however, especially in the numeracy area. As part of the Australian Government's "Numeracy Research and Development Initiative" a team led by Beth Powell in Western Australia has developed…

In foundation biochemistry and biological chemistry courses, a major problem area that has been identified is students' lack of understanding of pH, acids, bases, and buffers and their inability to apply their knowledge in solving acid/base problems. The aim of this study was to explore students' conceptions of pH and their ability to solve…

Mathematics games are often used in the classroom as a reward or warm-up activity before the "real" learning takes place. Many teachers have witnessed how useful games are for tuning-in students to the impending mathematics lesson. However, have teachers considered playing games as the central part of the lesson? This article explores…

This instructor guide, which was developed for use in a manufacturing firm's advanced technical preparation program, contains the materials required to present a learning module that is designed to prepare trainees for the program's statistical process control module by improving their basic math skills and instructing them in basic calculator…

This paper documents how eight high school students in a precalculus class enhanced with graphing calculators think about functions. Three models of thinking about functions emerged from students' function images observed over a period of 9 months. In the graph model, students believed that functions are essentially graphs; in the equation model,…

This yearbook focuses on the role of technology in school mathematics. Chapters are replete with classroom-tested ideas for using technology to teach new mathematical ideas and to teach familiar mathematical ideas better. Chapters included: (1) "Using the Graphing Calculator in the Classroom: Helping Students Solve the "Unsolvable" (Eric Milou,…

Many believe that technology offers the most benefit to students and teachers when it is integrated into the core curriculum rather than being taught as a separate discipline. This publication is intended to assist teachers in incorporating technology into learning activities in mathematics and science. Chapters emphasize issues concerning…

The Calculators in Primary Mathematics Project in Australia was a long-term investigation into the effects of the introduction of calculators on the learning and teaching of primary mathematics. The Australian project commenced with children who were in kindergarten and grade 1 in 1990, moving up through the schools to grade 4 level by 1993.…

This booklet is intended to acquaint educational policy-makers with some of the current roles and potential applications of computers in the curriculum, and to encourage them to initiate actions that will lead to proper and effective instructional use of computers in school systems. It is organized as a series of questions and answers designed to…

In three parts, this booklet provides elementary teachers with definitions of essential computer terminology and examines instructional uses of computers and computer-related activities. Terms defined are computer, interactive computing, computer hardware, computer software, and programming languages. Part 2 explores the main categories of the…

The focus of this activities book is on using calculators to solve problems, as a way of promoting better comprehension in mathematics in the intermediate grades. Problems of various types are presented, ranging from those based on everyday life such as shopping, schedules, meal planning, and sports, to those involving imaginary ideas.…