Since 1990, the January issue of "Teaching Pre K-8" has highlighted a school visit by the president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. This article discusses Cathy Seeley's visit to a 6th grade classroom at the J. E. Pearce Middle School in Austin, Texas, where she participated in a math activity from the Connected…

A semiotic perspective on mathematical activity provides a way of conceptualizing the teaching and learning of mathematics that transcends and encompasses both psychological perspectives focussing exclusively on mental structures and functions, and performance-focussed perspectives concerned only with student's behaviours. Instead it considers the…

We describe the "somatic marker hypothesis" proposed by Damasio (1996) to account for the ability of most people to make decisions quickly and continually in the course of their lives. We relate this hypothesis to two other theoretical constructs, emotional orientations and purposes, which we have used in our research on students' reasoning and…

It is often claimed that working and talking with partners while carrying out maths activities is beneficial to students' learning and the development of their mathematical understanding. However, observational research has shown that primary school children often do not work productively in group-based classroom activities, with the implication…

The NCTM Standards encourages teachers and students to explore multiple approaches and representations when engaging in mathematical activities. The activities in the "Your Better Half" investigation engage students in the understanding of the commonly used fraction half by using the set and the area model and it is found that using real-world…

Created by teachers for teachers, the Math Academy tools and activities included in this booklet were designed to create hands-on activities and a fun learning environment for the teaching of mathematics to the students. This booklet contains the "Math Academy--Play Ball! Explorations in Data Analysis & Statistics," which teachers can use to…

This breakthrough series of modules is intended to cover a range of topics and illustrate key ideas in mathematics, science, and technology education by actively engaging students in their learning processes. The module presented in this package is on measurement. Activities include posing questions, setting tasks, and encouraging students to…

A collaborative action research project with preservice teachers built on Wood's (2003) paper on strategy reporting, inquiry and argumentation and the NSW Department of Education and Training documents called substantive communication. There is little research on argumentation about space mathematics in primary schools so this is the focus of the…

Get students into math using outer space! Mission Mathematics translates the NASA experience into language and experiences appropriate for young learners, and provides teachers with mathematics activities that complement many of the available NASA resources for students and educators. In these motivating investigations, young children engage in…

This quantitative study compared two groups of community college students who were studying elementary statistics. The control group consisted of 38 students in two classes during the fall of 1998, and the treatment group contained 40 students in two classes during the spring of 1999. The treatment group participated in ten data collection and…

This stand-alone workshop session explores the connections between home and school mathematics learning through the lens of equity. It is appropriate for use with teachers, staff developers, after-school program providers, and other educators who work with parents. All three session activities can be done, or the leader can opt to keep the session…

The physics learning problem that students usually regard equations and other symbols in physics as algebraic exercises rather than representations of real world phenomena is commonly known. This article discusses how the Web-based interactive instructional materials were used to help students connect the symbolic world and the real world. The…

This issue of ENC Focus focuses on the topic of inquiry and problem solving. Featured articles include: (1) "Inquiry in the Everyday World of Schools" (Ronald D. Anderson); (2) "In the Cascade Reservoir Restoration Project Students Tackle Real-World Problems" (Clint Kennedy with Advanced Biology Students from Cascade High…

College courses that are taught without any technology are part of the past. With software that can do almost any mathematics including calculus, traditional teaching, with the instructor as all-knowing, is obsolete. In this paper, a comparison is made between business mathematics courses and general physics courses taught at a small private…

Explains how to implement an activity in which students measure the volume of their oral cavities. Enables students to develop skills in estimation, measurement, connections, statistics, applying concepts and procedures, and communication. (DDR)