Tangrams have sometimes been used as an extension activity intended only to keep faster students busy while others finished essential desk-work. Without adequate introduction, many find that tangrams are just an open-ended form of a jigsaw puzzle. Happily teachers have discovered that games provide an effective introduction to a new topic. In the…

In this article, the author describes a 200-year-old ladder problem that can carry learners to high levels of mathematical thinking and activity. This problem requires learners to go from a word problem to an equation to a graph and from there to a solution. As this problem of specifics is turned into a problem using variables, technology,…

This study compared interaction with a computer vs. observation as learning situations for low and high ability student's learning of spatial visualization and geometric transformations. Thirty-two fifth grade boys took the Differential Aptitude Test, Space Relations Subset (DAT), and then participated in the experiment. Pre-test and post-test…