Within initial teacher education there is increasing pressure to enhance the use of assessment data to support students to improve their knowledge and skills, and to determine what standards they meet upon graduation. For such data to be useful, both programme designers and students require meaningful and comprehensive assessment reports on…

Interview with neuropsychologist Brain Butterworth about what research has revealed about how the brain learns abstract concepts such as mathematics and the implications of these findings for teaching mathematics. (PKP)

Presents a study testing the hypothesis that students of informal as opposed to formal teachers would score better on the Richmond work-study tests than on the language and mathematics tests. Results find differences between formal and informal classes to be insignificant but individual students to differ in hypothesized directions. (Author/AEM)

Holds that virtually all children possess informal abilities required for school success and that most problems in school mathematics stem from social, personality, or educational factors. Describes children's informal mathematical thinking, presents clinical observations, and discusses implications for instruction of children experiencing…

Compiles the experiences of four people involved in running math clubs. States that the underlying purpose of all clubs is to promote mathematics as an enjoyable pastime while also stimulating students and enhancing the everyday curriculum. Describes difficulties encountered and their solutions, varieties of clubs, sample math problems, and a book…

This quarterly report on the Kailua Intermediate School's Excellence in Education Project provides information about the status of the project's four components, success of the project, replication of the project in other schools, and the project budget. The four component areas described include the skills laboratory, Homework Assist Program,…

Using the problem of trash disposal as an example, students participate in science activities designed to develop the following science skills: classifying, observing, measuring, communicating, inferring, and predicting. Activities are described in detail and a reproducible page is provided. (JL)

Hispanic students are notably behind their white counterparts in the core academic skills. Although the precise size of the gap depends on the subject area, age or grade, and the assessment, by all measures, a significant gap in mathematics, reading skills and science exists between Hispanic and white students. Educational achievement, or…

Children's solutions to simple word problems requiring addition or subtraction skills develop through four stages: (1) modeling with objects; (2) utilization of both modeling and counting strategies; (3) reliance on counting strategies; and (4) reliance on number facts. The current primary mathematics curriculum fails to capitilize on rich…

Explores mathematical methods children use to find answers for themselves. Describes some methods used for multiplication and subtraction problems. (YP)

Describes Minnesota Clerical Assessment Battery (MCAB), one of the first computerized tests for personnel selection to be made commercially available to businesses. Maintains that application of computerized testing to business is somewhat different from its application to education or counseling. Presents results of survey of potential users who…

A proposal to institute "a common test in the academic competencies" of English and mathematics as an admission requirement for all Nova Scotian universities was announced by the Royal Commission on Post-Secondary Education in 1985. The commission viewed writing proficiency as an innate ability, independent of learning, environment,…

Reports examples of the behaviors, including kinetic and vocal, used to facilitate problem-solving based on observations of four seventh-grade students. Discusses the use of the behaviors in problem-solving teaching. (YP)

Proposes a framework that identifies the components of number sense and the attributes of students who possess it. Discusses various aspects of three areas where number sense plays a key role: number concepts, operations with numbers, and applications of number and operation. (MDH)

A 3-day working conference on adult mathematical literacy took a first step toward ensuring that all adults acquire the mathematical skills they need to function on the job and in society, to achieve personal goals, and to support their children's education. Participants were adult educators involved in numeracy-related instruction, teacher…