Suggests a multitude of ideas for students to communicate their ideas in writing using the language of mathematics. Includes a sampling of 500+ writing formats, 67 abbreviated writing assignments, and three complete assignments along with a sample student response to each. Sample assignments include advice column, biographical sketch, commercial,…

Deals with university faculty's and students' perceptions of essay-writing difficulties in examinations and on coursework and ways to improve these problems. Offers a framework for analyzing types of writing problems and offering support. (MG)

Describes a class activity in which students gathered pictures and wrote and recorded narration relating to the first successful flight by the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Notes that, in the process of gathering pictures, the students were motivated to read the information accompanying the pictures. (RS)

Discussed is the use of writing as a tool to monitor student growth and development. The value of writing to help overcome obstacles such as misconceptions and preconceptions is stressed. A concept map of a hierarchy of writing strategies is provided. Stressed is the value of writing in the development of process skills. (CW)

Insists that the narrowed focus of cultural literacy makes application possible and outlines three strategies that have proved successful in conveying business-cultural literacy to students: reading (including the keeping of reading journals), interviewing, and listening to guest speakers from the business world. (NH)

Gives suggestions for incorporating journal writing into mathematics classrooms and provides examples of prompts and questions to help students write. (MKR)

Offers examples of writing assignments for specific disciplines, including the assignments to write case studies in hotel and restaurant management and secretarial studies; chart and progress summaries in respiratory therapy; cultural assessments in nursing; and partnership agreements in accounting. (DMM)

Describes background, focus, expectations, results, and comments concerning an undergraduate capstone course in the history of applied mathematics. Content area writing as a learning activity is recommended to promote an understanding of the history of the developments in mathematics which led to present day techniques, vocabulary, and…

Examines the effects of writing assignments on more than 250 undergraduate students' attitudes and on their classroom performance. The experimental writing group perceived both the subject matter and the course requirements more favorably, and also scored somewhat higher on average for the final examination, though not significantly higher than…

Proposes the use of poetry field trips to provide students with actual experiences on which to base their writing on nature. Provides examples of students writings. (MDH)

Author describes how 22 first-year high school students became politically active concerning coastal-zone management and wetlands protection. Students translated regulations of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection into plain English. Students wrote their opinions in a concise manner and appeared at a board meeting to influence its…

Describes an approach to introductory geology that requires students to go into the field to make observations, collect and analyze data, synthesize those data, and hypothesize about inferred geologic relationships. The product of these laboratories is a paper that requires students to test their hypothesis using specific examples from the data.…

Author describes an individual research project involving digital modeling of graded river profiles as part of a sophomore-level geomorphology class. The three-week project gives students the opportunity to choose research topics, design experiments to test ideas, interpret results, and write a research report. (PR)

Written descriptions by students in grades 3-7 (n=274) of common 2-dimensional geometric shapes were examined to compare the level descriptors of the van Hiele Theory and the SOLO Taxonomy. Results indicate that descriptors associated with the SOLO Taxonomy more accurately describe the quality of student thinking. (MDH)

Presented is a guide for undergraduate mathematical composition with emphases on explicit and clear definitions, purposeful formatting with regard to technical conventions, and proper style with respect to content and prospective audience. Numerous examples are included, particularly those involving complicated mathematical expressions. (JJK)