Illustrates the use of learners', rather than teachers', questions as well as interviews to negotiate curriculum in adult literacy and math classes. (SK)

Two Australian projects--integrating numeracy into a construction training course and integrating literacy in rural training--illustrate the development of integrated curricula and the necessity of contextualized, multiple literacies. Literacy is not a set of generic skills to be taught in isolation, but highly specific vocational and social…

Poses several questions about problem solving and provides six reasons that support how problem solving enhances the development of numeracy and mathematical thinking. (ASK)

In the context of increased labor market flexibility and "portfolio work," adults need knowledge of financial services and their interrelationships with insurance, taxation, and welfare systems. One approach uses the radical tradition of adult education to help people develop critical awareness and control of their financial decision…

Five experiments investigated whether adults and preschool children can perform simple arithmetic calculations on non-symbolic numerosities. Previous research has demonstrated that human adults, human infants, and non-human animals can process numerical quantities through approximate representations of their magnitudes. Here we consider whether…

Children shouldn't memorize mathematical facts and procedures like parrots, but should learn to think mathematically. In this article, the authors stress that mathematics involves making sense. They provide some simple mathematical challenges for readers to make sense of and to try with their classes.

This study investigated the development of children's knowledge of many-to-one counting. Four-year-olds ("n" = 51) either participated in a training or in a control group. The training taught children how to allot "Y" physically not present items to each of "X" objects and how to count these items in the process. It…

According to this author, the solution to the "phonics versus whole language" debate over the teaching of reading is balance and a focus on the needs of all students. There is similarly a need, in developing numerate young people, to focus on the teaching and learning of mathematics and mathematics skills some of the time, and on…

In the mid-1800s, Englishman John Venn invented a type of diagram to help visualize logical relationships. A Venn diagram is simply a rectangular box with circular loops in it that overlap to show how objects are related. This article describes activities with Venn diagrams that can be a fun way to sharpen students' logic skills and develop number…

In the paper the results of an empirical study, which has evaluated the development of mathematical literacy in an innovative teaching programme, are presented. The theoretical approach of mathematical literacy relies strongly on applications and modelling and the study follows the approach of R. Bybee, who develops a theoretical concept of…

Advocates of the ''continuity hypothesis'' have argued that innate non-verbal counting principles guide the acquisition of the verbal count list (Gelman & Gallistel, 1978). Some studies have supported this hypothesis, but others have suggested that the counting principles must be constructed anew by each child. Defenders of the continuity…

In seeking to understand how parent/child homework activity may provide a learning opportunity for parents as well as for children, the authors examined three bodies of literature: (1) research on parent involvement in homework; (2) research on parent reengagement with mathematics learning; and (3) research on the nature of parent/child math talk…

New research shows that adults with the lowest literacy and numeracy skills are likely to have experienced substantial disadvantage from early childhood. As the journeys of many adult learners attest, education can transform opportunity. What is more likely to motivate them to take up an educational offer is a life course transition or a new…

The 2015 edition of the "Digest of Education Statistics" is the 51st in a series of publications initiated in 1962. The "Digest" has been issued annually except for combined editions for the years 1977-78, 1983-84, and 1985-86. Its primary purpose is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field…

Students struggling with mathematics may benefit from early interventions aimed at improving their mathematics ability and ultimately preventing subsequent failure. This guide provides eight specific recommendations intended to help teachers, principals, and school administrators use Response to Intervention (RtI) to identify students who need…