Calculators can be used in primary schools in a number of situations. They are most beneficial when working with large numbers, dealing with real data that leads to complex calculations, performing repetitive calculations, developing concepts, estimating and checking, problem solving, and looking for patterns and/or relationships. But what if the…

In this article, the authors would like to look at a range of solutions submitted by Year 4-5 teams in the 2003 "Naturally Mathematical Challenge" to a question that involves no more than the numbers 1 to 6 and possible arrangements of them. In the context of other competition questions and in their elaboration of mathematical process,…

This article discusses an approach designed for mathematics educators. Maria Montessori intended this knowledge to be shared with other teachers, increasing the Montessori community's understanding of children's thinking. A group of Montessorians has even tried to formalize this process with a program called Teachers' Research Network. Similarly,…

My fellow teachers and I took a look at the use of tape and scissors in our 3-6 classroom. We had noticed children's over-reliance on these tools and wondered what would happen if we simply removed them. We decided to initiate a classroom research project in which the students worked for a while without scissors or tape. One goal of the project…

This paper presents affect as an essential aspect of students' self-reflection and self-regulation. The introduced concepts of self-system and self-system process stress the importance of self-appraisals of personal competence and agency in affective responses and self-regulation in problem solving. Students are viewed as agents who constantly…

A socio-constructivist account of learning and emotions stresses the situatedness of every learning activity and points to the close interactions between cognitive, conative and affective factors in students' learning and problem solving. Emotions are perceived as being constituted by the dynamic interplay of cognitive, physiological, and…

Quilts are an integral part of the North American culture. Most households in North America have quilts with intricate geometric patterns. These patterns symbolize different things to different groups of people in this part of the world. It is important for students to see how mathematics comes from what is done in day-to-day life, not from the…

This article describes the Mathematics Investigation Center (MIC), a tool to help elementary teachers differentiate the curriculum for their gifted mathematics students. Using the same mathematical theme that the rest of the class is studying, the activities provide depth for the gifted students by shifting from a computation level to a problem…

Undergraduate biology programs are currently undergoing reform to involve students in biomedical research. Engaging students in more active, hands-on experiments allows students to discover scientific principles for themselves, and to develop techniques of critical thinking and problem solving. This models the world of real scientific research,…

The momentum gathering behind authentic learning/critical skills raises fundamental issues concerning teaching and learning. This article discusses some of the more general arguments surrounding authentic learning with particular reference to an in-depth evaluation of its impact on schools in one part of Great Britain. It then moves on to describe…

This article reports on the use of a unique number system to facilitate teachers' understanding of the concepts of place value. Teachers' mastery of base-ten may hinder their recognition of the difficulties students have with place value, so the authors created a number system that used five symbols to represent values. Using this system, teachers…

Students are rarely given the opportunity of being decisionmakers in class, and when they are, they may feel unsure of how to organize their own learning. However, over time they come to appreciate the benefits of a more active engagement in learning English. In this paper, I describe a procedure based on Exploratory Practice (EP) for guiding…

Education today for the work of tomorrow must take on an entirely new look if the United States is to remain competitive in the global economy. Today, students need to be critical thinkers and problem solvers, have excellent communication and digital literacy skills and master challenging core content. This paper presents "Pathways to…

This paper analyzes the role of peace education in the creation of a culture of peace from the standpoint of social psychology. To meet the current challenges to peace, it is necessary to develop programs of research, education, and intervention that are as systemic and multidimensional as violence itself. The United Nations Educational,…

This study reviews interventions in history teaching history from 1985 and 1995, an era of major redefinition in the field of instruction. Kindergarten through grade 12 are the focus population for the research. The study examines the context for educational change and addresses four central questions about the development of new curriculum…