This article explores some entertaining examples of mathematical thinking in working with the alphabet. They involve thinking linearly, sequentially, in order, and logically, and require problem solving--mathematical thinking. The article discusses creatively exploring the alphabet through alphabet books and creating alternative alphabet lists.

This paper seeks to integrate a scholarship of "ritual" with a scholarship of "improvisation" and relate the intersection thereof with mathematics teaching and learning and with mathematics education research. Drawing on their experiences as classroom teachers, as practicing improvisers, and as current education researchers,…

The authors encourage consideration of the where mathematics learning takes place. They found that taking students outside engaged them with learning how to add and subtract integers and translate linear graphs.

In this paper I discuss the possibilities for exploring the hundred chart kinesthetically with elementary preservice teachers using a life-size hundred chart--an innovative tool, homemade from a shower curtain--to build quantity sense. Preservice teachers explored creative approaches to teach mathematics using the life-size hundred chart and…

In this article, Sarah Currier, a math specialist at Elizabeth Hall International School in Minnesota, describes how she used origami in a deliberate manner to teach content. She shares how she uses paper folding to teach mathematical concepts, reinforce vocabulary, and as a problem-solving model. She also offers ideas for using origami in other…

Information lies at the center of information studies, the information professions, and information education. Yet there are few agreed upon pedagogical strategies for engaging students in our central concept. In many educational programs the nature of information is assumed to be obvious and therefore left uninterrogated. Alternatively, students…

There is a perception amongst some of those learning computer programming that the principles of object-oriented programming (where behaviour is often encapsulated across multiple class files) can be difficult to grasp, especially when taught through a traditional, didactic "talk-and-chalk" method or in a lecture-based environment. We…

Designed for a broad audience, including educators, camp directors, afterschool coordinators, and preservice teachers, this investigation aims to help individuals experience mathematics in unconventional and exciting ways by engaging them in the physical activity of building geometric shapes using ropes. Through this engagement, the author…

In this second installment of a two-part article, the author draws from coaching and research into children's learning in science to present a model for building pupils' scientific ideas quickly and effectively. In the first article, the author outlined how pupils' reading improves when they are more engaged in finding scientific…

The authors of this article believe that giving students opportunities to talk about and represent science concepts helps them develop deeper, more integrated understandings, while providing teachers with rich, alternative methods of assessment. They provide Science units and instructional approaches that are consistent with science and…

Great science teachers recognise the importance of providing children with practical, real-life experiences to develop their understanding of, and enthusiasm for, this truly inspirational subject. However, Gareth Metcalfe believes that the process by which children understand and remember their scientific experiences can be enriched. This article…

A key characteristic of successful mathematics teachers is that they are able to provide varied activities that promote student learning and assessment. Web 2.0 applications can provide an assortment of tools to help produce creative activities. A Web 2.0 tool enables the student to enter data and create multimedia products using text, graphics,…

"Slowmation" (abbreviated from "Slow Animation") is a simplified way of making an animation that enables students to create their own as a new way of learning about a science concept. When students make a slowmation, they create a sequence of five multimodal representations (the 5 Rs) with each one contributing to the learning…

With the current focus in mathematics education on the importance of developing students' conceptual understanding, fluency with the language of mathematics, critical thinking, and working mathematically, teachers are constantly expected to design challenging and investigative tasks that can engage and motivate students in their learning of…

The Earthquake Machine (EML), a mechanical model of stick-slip fault systems, can increase student engagement and facilitate opportunities to participate in the scientific process. This article introduces the EML model and an activity that challenges ninth-grade students' misconceptions about earthquakes. The activity emphasizes the role of models…