In the September 2010 issue of "Mathematics Teaching," Tom O'Brien offered practical advice about how to teach addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division and contrasted his point of view with that of H.H. Wu. In this article, the author revisits Tom's examples, drawing on his methodology while, hopefully, simplifying it and giving it…

In this article, the author discusses the Soroban (Japanese abacus) in the age of computers and its structure. Since the advent of computers, the Soroban has started to shift from being used purely as a calculating device to being a useful tool in general mathematics education. The beauty of the Soroban is that it represents numbers exactly as you…

Discusses numeracy strategy. Focuses on gaining insight into student understanding of number. Discusses the benefits of this long-overdue numeracy strategy. (ASK)

Mathematics is not only taught because it is useful. It should be a source of delight and wonder, offering pupils intellectual excitement and an appreciation of its essential creativity. In this article, the author discusses four basic principles that he currently believes: (1) All children can do mathematics; (2) Active participation is required…

Charlotte, the author's 11-year-old daughter, was born with Down syndrome, and is currently attending the local middle school. In terms of her disability Charlotte is developing very well and has a reading age of 9+, however her maths skills age is approximately 4 years. It is not necessarily the case that if a child has good language and literacy…