The traditional method of teaching math--showing students how to do a procedure, then assigning problems that require them to use that exact procedure--leads to adults who don't know how to approach problems that don't look like those in their math book. Seeley describes an alternative teaching method (upside-down teaching) in which teachers give…

Watch one of the Japan videos from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)--more specifically, mathematics video 3 on solving inequalities1--and you'll see that after giving his students a word problem to solve, the 8th grade math teacher strolls among the students' desks for almost 15 minutes, leaning over to see what…

Students do not associate traditional word problems with their own experiences because they describe situations textually, rather than contextually, and seem artificially geared to specific number operations and single correct answers. Aided by a state grant, elementary teachers in one Minnesota district are using video anchors to simulate…