Students' difficulties understanding the meaning of logarithms could stem in part from differences between teachers' and students' views of them. The purpose of this article is to unpack some specialized content knowledge for teaching logarithms. The author discusses the history of logarithms to show why they can be understood as repeated…

This article describes the authors' three-component instructional sequence--a before-class activity, a during-class activity, and an after-class activity--which supports students in becoming self-regulated proof learners by actively developing class-based criteria for proof. All four authors implemented this sequence in their classrooms, and the…

Working with language-independent logic structures can help students develop both inductive and deductive reasoning skills. The Japanese publisher Nikoli (with resources available both in print and online) produces a treasure trove of language-independent logic puzzles. The Nikoli print resources are mostly in Japanese, creating the extra…

Four activities consisting of puzzles are introduced, which help students to recognize the strength of algebraic generalizations. They also assist them to comprehend algebraic concepts, and enable them to develop their individual puzzles and games.

The Name Game activity that raises challenging mathematical questions is used to explore random permutations. A permutation of a set is an arrangement of the elements in some order.

A teaching method which involves student participation to the extent that students teach other students in their classroom is described. An outline of how this technique should operate in a general mathematics class is presented. (FL)

An activity which stresses on identifying features of functions like the rate of change, intercepts, local and global behavior, zeros and asymptotes is designed to increase the level of understanding of the students and also to clear any doubts that they might have. The students are then asked to make a summary of what was discussed in the class,…

This article highlights a series of activities designed to elicit students' mathematics-related beliefs, particularly those related to gender. As a result of the activities, females in upper-level classes rated themselves as having less confidence than males, and viewing a movie clip was sufficient for some students to modify their descriptions of…

Presents a Monte Carlo simulation on probability using a telephone directory as a pseudorandom-number generator. Claims that Monte Carlo simulations offer a way to teach probability concretely and with understanding and that students enjoy the probability experiments. (ASK)

Twenty suggestions for lending variety to classroom activities. (MM)

An interdisciplinary activity in which students can see how a famous author, Leo Tolstoy, metaphorically applied the integration steps from calculus to illustrate his ideas about how history should be studied is described. The activity provides a startling and energizing conclusion to a unit on applications of integration and provokes students'…

Describes desktop teaching which involves giving students individual topics and having them prepare lessons on those topics to share with the class. Presents the structure of desktop teaching including how to prepare, introduce, set up, implement, and evaluate it. Emphasizes that desktop teaching helps students engage in discussing and learning…

Practical tips are presented for teaching concepts related to percentage and the integration of powers of "e." (PK)

A strategy game is presented that teachers (1) logical reasoning; (2) how to formulate a clear verbal argument that explains your reasoning; (3) basic mathematical skills and (4) computational skills. The game is adaptable for many levels of instruction. (JP)