Fostering a culture of professionalism is the work of all stakeholders in a school and can be influenced by participating in self-selected professional development. Professionalism is a trait among teachers that has garnered significant attention within mathematics education. Central to the principle of professionalism is the recognition that…

Describes some real-life problem situations and the mathematical applications used to solve the situations in order to promote an inquiring and problem-posing approach. (MKR)

Presents a series of questions designed to help convince students that mathematics is useful, current, and newsworthy through solving systems of linear equations in real world contexts. (KHR)

Problem solving is presented as a resource for creating curriculum through reflections on intuition such as: exploring available intuitions, making explicit the intuitions used, and using intuition to generalize. (MP)

Portions of the Cockcroft Report which seem confusing are discussed. The connections among problems, applications, and investigations are considered in sections on being a mathematician; open is in the mind; assumptions, rules and patterns; and learning not to be anxious. (MNS)

A program called SemCalc is detailed that enables people to use the computer as a tool to solve word, story, estimation, and simple algebra problems. SemCalc is seen as an example of a computer program that is a tool, with no curricular agenda of its own. (MP)

Definitions of estimating and approximating are given and areas where these skills are used (such as practical situations, problem solving, and measurement) are discussed. Nine activities which range from second to twelfth-grade level are suggested. (MK)

Presents activity pages containing world population data for students to use to predict future population figures and Consumer Price Index (CPI) data to track changes in the costs of the goods. Includes answer key. (KHR)

Presented are twenty essays related to applications in school mathematics and aimed at the classroom teacher. The essays use numerous examples and illustrations that provide the teacher with something tangible for immediate use. Four thematic areas are addressed: (1) What are applications?; (2) Why include applications in school mathematics?; (3)…

This paper briefly reviews research grounded in cultural and socio-constructivist theories carried out to investigate the phenomenon of suspension of sense-making when doing school arithmetic word problems. It begins with ascertaining studies documenting and marking out the phenomenon, then provides an explanation of the observed effects that are…

As calculators and computer use increases in mathematics education, more educators are recognizing a shift in emphasis from computation to problem solving. Ways to generate problems that can be used to develop pupil creativity and insight are suggested, and process-oriented instruction is promoted. (MP)

Three examples of problems that can be adapted to different grade levels and abilities and used to help children develop problem-solving skills are discussed. Some of the specific approaches recommended for teachers in helping students to find solutions are detailed with each example. (MP)

Wind chill is detailed and noted as an estimate of how cold the wind makes a person feel in cold weather. A worksheet master that provides a table of temperatures and wind speeds is provided along with a set of problems. Answers to the brief question set are provided. (MP)

This paper describes three methods that can be utilized in teaching for meaning in mathematics. These three methods are based on learning theories. Although there may not be consensus of what constitutes meaningful learning in the study of mathematics, there are problems with meaningless mathematics that are widely agreed upon by educators.…

Analyzed are textbook word problems that are typically used as applications of mathematics and shows some of the difficulties in making these problems realistic. A discussion and examples of sources of genuine mathematical applications in real life follows. (MN)