This article describes a simple, concrete and engaging model for teaching self-determination skills (such as self-awareness, goal-setting, choice-making, problem solving and self-monitoring) to early elementary students. The model was designed to increase appropriate behaviors, academic performance and positive self-concept in students with and…

Twelve Australian and 12 Chinese heritage students from a third-year university computer ethics subject completed a Readiness for Online Learning Questionnaire; and six students from each of these two groups participated in a student-facilitated problem-solving discussion through computer-mediated communication. The questionnaire comparisons…

During the years 2000-2003, a course on Exploring Quantitative Relationships (EQR) was created at Queens College under the support of the U.S. Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (DOE-FIPSE Grant No. P116B000772). Exploratory in nature, the course goals were to acquaint liberal arts students with…

Young children are born scientists, exploring everything in their world around them. Yet, many teachers still find it hard to integrate science into the daily schedule. However, open-ended science or discovery centers are a perfect way for teachers to help students develop science processes and build literacy skills while they integrate science…

How can technology in education affect the workforce and economic development? What kind of leadership will it take to align learning and technology in the 21st century? Can we bridge the gap between education reform, technology, and No Child Left Behind requirements simultaneously? The answers to these and many other related questions were…

This article describes using helium balloons to introduce students to integers and integer arithmetic. (Contains 9 figures.)

This article describes how three algebra problems involving systems of equations can be modeled and solved with manipulative materials or pictorial representation, then the solutions are compared with standard solutions using algebraic symbols. As students begin to use manipulatives and represent their pictures with number sentences, they are…

This study describes a conceptual teaching approach that helps students make connections between their everyday activities and mathematical word problems. It includes a brief review of the importance of teaching for understanding and describes four principles of conceptual teaching: (1) use cooperative groups; (2) allow students enough time to act…

This article explores the algebra that can be uncovered in many middle-grades mathematics tasks that, on first inspection, do not appear to be algebraic. It shows connections to the other four Standards that occur in traditional algebra problems, and it offers strategies for modifying activities so that they can be used to foster algebraic…

The National Research Council has suggested that science classes need to become more active and authentic. To help with this effort, Thayer Model Engineering was created several years ago as an inquiry science course at Champlain Valley Union High School in Hinesburg, Vermont. In this school, the students apply the Thayer Model--a four-step…

Professionals and parents need effective systems of teamwork for planning restorative outcomes with troubled children and youth. This article taps the resilient problem-solving process C*L*E*A*R, which is drawn from the Response Ability Pathways (RAP) curriculum. Participants examine the timeline of Challenges, Logic, Emotions, Actions, and…

Preservice teachers and current teachers alike face daily challenges that necessitate problem-solving skills. Conducting problem solving as a part of a group of professionals and the child's family can be beneficial because it encourages the offering of many perspectives, which allows for better understanding of the problem context. However, a…

The development of conceptual understanding in arithmetic is a gradual process and children may make use of a concept in some situations before others. Previous research has demonstrated that when children are given arithmetic problems with an inverse relationship they can infer that the initial and final quantities are the same. However, we do…

In this article, the author describes a way of motivating learners to solve and reflect upon mathematical problems. The author wanted to find ways to help the Y6 class with their KS2 SATs, but more importantly she wanted to develop their interest and skills in solving mathematical challenges. She spent some time working on the idea of a "…

In this article, the author describes a week of "timely" open-ended lessons with a high ability Y9 group of boys. He gives lessons that would give the students some sense of purpose, as they try to generate a mathematical entity to represent something they used regularly. He states that understanding metric time is something his students…