In this article, the author shares the Menu Writing project, designed to promote a meaningful, real-world connection to mathematics with the lives of students. The rationale for developing this project was two-fold: (1) to connect school mathematics to students' lived experiences to encourage and sustain students' interest, motivation, and…

Students' success in solving problems involving proportional reasoning is an indication that they have moved beyond additive thinking to multiplicative thinking. However, classroom work indicates that many students do not reason proportionally in many practical contexts. The authors discuss a particular task that reveals students'…

This issue explains the concept of externalities (benefits or burdens which accrue to society when there is a difference between the private cost or benefit of an action and the social cost or benefit of that action). These external or social costs of individual actions are often referred to as spillover costs. Three brief teaching units follow…

This teaching guide begins with an explanation of the role of money in the economy, focusing on its circulation or exchange. The use of money as a unit of account, a store of value, and a medium of exchange are explained. Three brief teaching units are included. The grade K-2 unit, "Money Counts," provides games and activities which develop the…