Advocates the use of classification activities in the elementary school curriculum as a means of developing thinking skills in children. Critical preclassification skills, classification activities (including simple and multiple classification), and classification tasks and materials are discussed. (Author/RH)

The purpose of this article is to stimulate a discussion about the teaching of algebra. It seeks to raise questions which are more fundamental than those so far generated by the manipulative skills debate. (Author/MK)

Suggests discovery activities in spatial awareness for elementary math, utilizing home-made geometric shapes and soma cubes. (SJL)

Describes and illustrates games and game settings used in two observational projects dealing with game play by young children. One project presented games encouraging use of strategies; the other provided game equipment and invited the children to invent their own rules and playing procedures. (DS)

A number of paper-folding activities are described. The activities illustrate geometric concepts, theorems, and construction techniques. (SD)

Students in second and third grades were given instruction on sentential logic. Different approaches were used in 3 classrooms at each grade level and a classroom at each level served as a control group. Posttests included tests of classification, sentential logic, and perceptual reasoning; experimental students outperformed controls. (SD)

Reports on the performance and strategies of children working in one of three gender pairs (girls, boys, or boy/girl) on Geo-Logo tasks. The case studies presented reveal that the children showed a high level of engagement and learning in the Geo-Logo environment. Activities include the Turtle Paths curriculum unit, Missing Measures, and 200…

Explores the interaction of gender, sex-typed toys, and the construction of the mathematical topic of fractions as it is taught in schools. (MKR)

Presents ideas for tools useful for teaching writing in elementary school, such as carbon paper, stick-on flags, blank books, scissors, rulers, tape, stationery, postcards, card stands, clotheslines, and Polaroid cameras. Notes on materials dos and don'ts and special writing projects are included. (SM)

Describes a very successful attempt to teach fractions to year 5 pupils based on pupils making their own fraction pack. Children decided for themselves how to make the fractional slices used in the activity using colored cardboard sheets and templates of a paper circle consisting of 24 equal slices. (Author/NB)

A pretest-posttest control group design was used to measure the effect of practical life materials (e.g., tweezers, tongs, spoons) on kindergarten children's fine motor skill development. Experimental and control group teachers reported equal amounts of fine motor activity in their classrooms; however, significant interaction effects were found…

Illustrates ways of using algebra tiles to give students a visual model of competing squares that appear in algebra as well as in higher mathematics. Such visual representations give substance to the symbolic manipulation and give students who do not learn symbolically a way of understanding the underlying concepts of completing the square. (KHR)

Describes a unit of study focusing on tessellations to show students another view of mathematics. (Author)

Presents a classroom activity in which students build and learn to use their own abacuses. Describes the lesson that combines mathematics, art, and social studies. (KHR)

Examines methods and types of estimation. Characterizes fruitful in-class estimation tasks by exploring the validity and possible extensions of "marble jar" estimation. (KHR)