The author, a mathematics teacher, describes a seventh grade class where students use scientific notation to calculate how long it takes light to travel a variety of astronomical distances and then interpret the significance of their findings. Ultimately, the goal is to have students see how calculations can help answer large, almost philosophical…

How can a cognitively demanding real-world task such as the Seven Billion People problem promote productive struggle "and" help shape students' mathematical dispositions? Driving home from school one evening, Jaclyn Murawska heard a commentator on the radio announce three statements: (1) experts had determined that the world population…