Four categories of abuses are discussed: calculations, games and puzzles; mystical button pushing; and checking answers. Useful activities are illustrated for the categories of calculations, patterns, exploration, applications, and new content. (MP)

Some patterns resulting from certain operations on numbers are discussed, analyzed, and explained. A method for predicting the outcome of these operations for any number is developed.

Magic squares are developed beginning with square arrays of playing cards. (SD)

Presents activities that emphasize engaging students in proportional reasoning. Introduces students to the rules involved in recognizing proportions and invites students to discover how the numbers in an ordered pair are related. (JRH)

A form perception theory is proposed in an attempt to understand problems in mental rotation and in perception of forms rotated in the frontal-parallel plane. The theory, along with distinctions among four types of information, was supported by two mental and three visual experiments with 74 undergraduate students. (TJH)

The author describes various professionals' need for the ability to diagnose problems in their areas of expertise. Three psychological models are examined: (1) scientific rationality, (2) the template model, and (3) the interactionist model. The author discusses the integration of information on diagnostic processes into the adult professional…

Two experiments with 100 undergraduates investigated effects of delay of feedback on immediate and delayed transfer tasks involving different pattern recognition strategies. Delay of feedback resulted in greater retention of the concepts underlying construction of the different patterns in all transfer tasks. Results support the Kulhavy-Anderson…

Examined 2-month-old infants' perception of sparse random-dot displays depicting an illusory shape against a background in three experiments in which background texture, luminance cues, and relative motion information were added or deleted. Found that infants preferred novel stimuli in each condition, revealing an early capacity to perceive shape…

This article draws on a reanalysis of findings from two separate qualitative studies that examined a possible relationship between school board members' and curriculum directors' conceptions of power and the way they made decisions (Mountford, 2001; Ylimaki, 2001, respectively). The findings from both studies were then compared to the extant…

The card game SET has attracted the attention of math and game enthusiasts alike. In this article, I present a first semester Abstract Algebra project that guides the students through an algebraic formulation of the game. There are many interesting mathematical questions that one can ask about the game, and I illustrate how the project can be used…

Pattern work is now undertaken as early as kindergarten, and both researchers and teachers have discovered that children engage in pattern work with great enthusiasm and innate ability. Having some flexibility in pattern perception and selecting mathematically useful patterns require some training, although there is nothing particularly algebraic…

Using the overhead projector, or overlays on an original pattern, a variety of tessellations can be generated. Several illustrations are included. (SD)

Three games played with regular bridge decks of cards are described. By playing the games students gain practice in use of basic operations on integers and in the development of strategies. (SD)

A study was made to assess the effect of comprehension on the recognition of meaning and wording changes with concrete and abstract sentences. The results of the experiment were discussed in light of recent models which propose different storage mechanisms for concrete and abstract sentences. (Author/RM)