This book is designed to provide middle-grade mathematics teachers with ideas for enlivening instruction to help students acquire a sense about numbers. Guided classroom discussions for writing opportunities centered on the theme of problem solving are provided. Following an introduction, chapters include the following: Counterintuitive Problems;…

Games and puzzles in which a checkerboard can be used to develop mathematical concepts are described. (SD)

A problem-solving exercise based on the principle of cooperative learning and designed for use in the English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classroom is described and demonstrated. The problem-posing method, which uses students' lives and problems as a focus of discussion in the second language classroom, is outlined. By using carefully selected…

On a triangular grid of equilateral triangles an analytical procedure is presented for solving puzzles that require one to measure out a specified amount of liquid from containers of various volumes. (JP)

A procedure for constructing a magic cube is presented, with related teaching activities appropriate for students familiar or unfamiliar with the algorithm covered. (MP)

Discusses the process and the usefulness of translating empirical logic puzzles into mathematical problems which may be more easily solved, then translating the answer back into the context of the original problem. Presents nine logic puzzles devised by Lewis Carroll, with answers. (AIM)

Offers two problem-solving ideas for hands-on pattern-block activities. A primary level activity introduces area and gives students experience with a problem that has multiple solutions. An intermediate level activity provides first-hand experience with similar shapes. (SM)

The performance of 136 college students at the University of Western Ontario (Canada) on various parameters of two well-known puzzles was compared with performance on a measure of general intelligence and the Hidden Figures Test. An interpretation of the results is provided by Sternberg's experimental subtheory of intelligence. (SLD)

Several problem-solving activities involving only 0-9 to be used with sets of ceramic tiles are presented. Finding specified sums, differences, or products is the object of most of the problems. (MNS)

A detailed analysis and computer-based solution to a puzzle addressing the arrangement of dominoes on a grid is presented. The problem is one used in a college-level data structures or algorithms course. The solution uses backtracking to generate all possible answers. Details of the use of backtracking and techniques for mapping abstract problems…

Discusses a sample puzzle activity called "Thinking Like an Artist" that encourages careful observation of artwork and prompts students to decode the thought processes used by artists. Helps students develop original ideas and strengthens their problem-solving abilities. Provides a list of materials, rules, and the procedure in detail. (CMK)

This publication is designed to educate high school students about the problems and challenges of transportation. The parent project was conceived as a mathematics curriculum project but developed into an interdisciplinary project to ensure that students would become well informed regarding the transportation decisions they make. In the activities…

Two studies were conducted to train students to use imagery in their learning and to investigate whether such training would transfer to solving visual puzzles and verbal problems. In the first study, with 78 graduate students, 29 experimental-group subjects were given a lecture and slide presentation designed to teach about imagery. Both the…

Cryptarithm puzzles are explained and discussed. Examples are provided and reproducible student worksheets are included. (PK)

Provides domino geometry problems, problems with arithmetic progressions, and magic pentagram sums. (JM)