Despite the importance of computational estimation skill for the improvement of number sense, little research exists on preservice teachers' estimation skills and their view on estimation in the US context. This study examined the computational estimation skill of 58 preservice elementary teachers (PSTs) and its relationship to their views of the…

Discusses a problem that appeared in the September, 1999 issue of this journal and presents solutions from students in grades 2-6. The question involved using colored cubes rearranged to make different stacked towers. (KHR)

Describes a problem that appeared in the April, 1999 issue of this journal and analyzes student responses and misconceptions. The problem concerns exponential progressions. (KHR)

Results are reported from a study of the problem-solving abilities of Swedish children aged 12-13. Illustrative problems and conclusions are given to describe a method for defining and testing problem solving. (MNS)

Examines ways in which teachers can develop children's abilities to mathematize their world by articulating mathematical problems in situations, then solving and discussing their solutions. Contains 11 references. (ASK)

Shares different students' solutions for a problem entitled How Much Film?, which appeared in the November 1997 issue of Teaching Children Mathematics. The problem has to do with how many rolls of film are necessary to take 687 pictures. (ASK)

Describes six key practices vital to a problem-centered instructional approach to number sense and computational strategies. Also presents actual classroom examples of strategies. (AIM)

Proposes a word problem concerning placing students around triangular tables. Students must determine how to place the touching tables so that everyone can be seated. (KHR)

A study examined understanding of number line concepts by 4th grade culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students (n=30), students with learning disabilities (n=23), and 21 controls. CLD students with disabilities demonstrated difficulty due to several factors beyond lack of language competence, including failure to apply number lines to…

Zoo Zillions contains five activities for grades K-2: Annie's Jungle Trail, 3D Gallery, Number Line Express, Gnu Ewe Boutique, and Fish Stories. These activities enable children to review and practice basic mathematics skills; identify three-dimensional shapes, watch them in motion, and create their own three-dimensional designs; locate numbers…

Presents teaching methods to rectify the tendency of students and even teachers to divide the smaller number into the larger in problem situations requiring division, while recognizing the impossibility of the answer in the situation. (MDH)

This study investigated children's ability to interpret a natural social situation, depicted in a narrative story, and to use their understanding of that situation to generate and apply a mental model of debts and assets in solving problems including negative quantities. Fifty-one American students from a parochial school in a predominantly middle…

Illustrates and discusses one class of strategies to solve word problems referred to as "number-consideration strategies." Contrasts actions and goals of students who focus mainly on number considerations with those of students who focus mainly on problem understanding. (MDH)

Teaching the mathematical concepts of greater than and less than without their mathematical symbols is discussed. (JT)

Presents solutions for a problem concerning doubling a recipe from a previous article on number concepts in the October 1997 issue. (ASK)