Concludes that the significant difference found between responses made to displayed drawings and those made to models suggests that, independently of the complexity of stimulus, encoding will not influence responses if the very economical process of simple coding can be used. (Author/AM)

Shares detailed episodes of children's work in repeatedly partitioning geometric shapes to highlight the process of recursion, which can lead to a deeper understanding of imagination and beauty in children's mathematics. (MKR)

This book, the 10th volume in the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education (JRME) Monograph Series, discusses the geometry curriculum and investigates how elementary school students learn geometric concepts and how Logo programming and its turtle graphics might affect this learning. This volume also provides details on the development,…

Development of geometric congruence and motion was studied through tasks that tapped transformational imagery, correspondence matching, measurement operations, and transformation combinations. Results showed even the youngest children studied could generate strategies for verifying congruence. The dominant strategy in younger children was edge…

Seymour Papert, creator of LOGO, explains how he came to create this important problem-solving language and how he intended it to be used to foster learning among children. What children can do with turtle geometry (indicated to be a natural approach to mathematics) is one topic considered. (Author/JN)

Discusses how students construct mental images that aid estimation skills in the measurement of angles. Reports research identifying four strategies that students use to estimate sizes of angles. Strategies include utilization of the mental images of (1) a protractor; (2) a right angle; (3) a half-turn; and (4) angles of a polygon. (MDH)

Two experiments investigated children's strategies for solving geometric matrices that were correctly or incorrectly completed and that varied in number of elements and number of transformations. Examining the relationship between working memory and item complexity, the first experiment tested 90 boys and girls of 7, 10, and 13 years of age for…

Explores cognitive operations such as coordination, integration, and structuring as manifested in a spatial context. Relates spatial thinking to enumeration strategies. Interviews with 45 third graders and 78 fifth graders suggest that students initially see arrays of cubes as uncoordinated sets of faces, later as space-filling structures. (FDR)

Geometry is a fundamental part of the mathematics foundation provided by elementary education. Children have an intuitive understanding of geometry that they draw on when dealing with geometric concepts in activities like drawing, playing hopscotch, defending their "half of the room," and playing sports. This book offers no instruction…

Described is how using LOGO tools for manipulating embodiments of geometric objects helps students construct more abstract and coherent concepts. Discussions are included on developing verbal definitions versus constructing concepts, tasks for integrating turns and angles, group discussions, and maze tasks. (KR)

This study was designed to investigate the relationship between the level of conservation of displaced volume and the degree to which sixth-grade children learn the volume algorithm of a cuboid, namely, volume equals weight times length times height. The problem chosen is based on an apparent discrepancy between the present school programs and…

Discusses a variation on tiling that offers opportunities for the construction of the fundamental mathematical concept of constructing abstract units called "unitizing." Tiling integrates geometric and numerical settings to develop spatial sense and present mathematics as constructing patterns. (MDH)