"Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions" is an 1884 novella written by English schoolmaster Edwin Abbott. He describes what it would be like to live in a two-dimensional (2D) world--Flatland. It is fascinating reading that underscores the challenge of teaching three-dimensional (3D) mathematics using 2D tools. Real-world applications of…

The author shares the lesson that he used to introduce the quadratic unit to students in an extended second-year algebra class, demonstrate why it was appropriate for his struggling learners, and discuss possible future modifications to this lesson.

The authors provide a dynamic Ferris wheel computer activity that teachers can use as an instructional tool to help students investigate functions. They use a student's work to illustrate how students can use relationships between quantities to further their thinking about functions.

The process of prime factor splicing to generate home primes raises opportunity for conjecture and exploration. The notion of "home primes" is relatively new in the chronicle of mathematics. Heleen (1996-97) first described a procedure called "prime factor splicing" (PFS). The exploration of home primes is interesting and…

Children love sculpting clay or building sand castles, creating objects in three dimensions before they have the motor skills to draw in two dimensions. Similar arguments applied to the study of curves and graphs in high school mathematics would suggest that students' work and calculation with shapes should move sequentially from concrete to more…

The NCTM Algebra Standard suggests that students use technology to explore the effects of varying the parameters in y = ax2 + bx + c. This article discusses an extension of this task that incorporates dynamic geometry software to engage students in generating, testing, and proving mathematical conjectures.

When thinking about student reasoning and sense making, teachers must consider the nature of tasks given to students along with how to plan to use the tasks in the classroom. Students should be presented with tasks in a way that encourages them to draw connections between algebraic and geometric concepts. This article focuses on the idea that it…

For students to be successful in algebra, they must have a truly conceptual understanding of key algebraic features as well as the procedural skills to complete a problem. One strategy to correct students' misconceptions combines the use of worked example problems in the classroom with student self-explanation. "Self-explanation" is the…

Sage is an open-source software package that can be used in many different areas of mathematics, ranging from algebra to calculus and beyond. One of the most exciting pedagogical features of Sage (http://www.sagemath.org) is its ability to create interacts--interactive examples that can be used in a classroom demonstration or by students in a…

Mathematics teachers continually look for ways to make the learning of mathematics more active and engaging. Hands-on activities, in particular, have been demonstrated to improve student engagement and understanding in mathematics classes. Likewise, many scholars have emphasized the growing importance of giving students experience with the…

Geometry students need challenges. They need to apply what they already know to new contexts. As a result, high school teacher Wayne Nirode is always looking for groups of related problems of theorems to challenge his geometry students. He came across one such group or problems when reading Jun's (2012) one-page abstract posted online for the 12th…

Students are immersed in a mathematically intensive, technological world. They engage daily with iPods, HDTVs, and smartphones--technological devices that rely on sophisticated but accessible mathematical ideas. In this article, the authors provide an overview of four lab-type activities that have been used successfully in high school mathematics…

How can the key concept of equivalent expressions be addressed so that students strengthen their representational fluency with symbols, graphs, and numbers? How can research inform the synergistic use of both paper-and-pencil analysis and computer algebra systems (CAS) in a classroom learning environment? These and other related questions have…

Several interactive geometry software packages are available today to secondary school teachers. An example is The Geometer's Sketchpad[R] (GSP), also known as Dynamic Geometry[R] software, developed by Key Curriculum Press. This numeric based technology has been widely adopted in the last twenty years, and a vast amount of creativity has been…

All teachers, especially high school teachers, face the challenge of ensuring that students have opportunities to relate and connect the various representations and notions of mathematics concepts developed over the course of the pre-K-12 mathematics curriculum. NCTM's (2000) Representation Standard emphasizes the importance of students being…