The importance of establishing a problem-solving atmosphere is stressed. Children asking "why" are on their way to strengthening their number sense. Curiosity should be promoted, encouraging children to test their own hypotheses and pursue their own predictions. An example with an eight-year-old girl is given to illustrate these points.…

Students have the opportunity to verbalize relationships that demonstrate the acquisition of good number sense. They are to develop clues about the answer to a problem without computing or telling the answer, and to state or write several things they know about the answer to each problem. (MNS)

Young children benefit from activities that involve various partitions of numbers, especially the number 10. Presented are two activities that require students partition and recombine numbers to solve problems in a gamelike situations. Examples and worksheets are provided. (MDH)

Presents the general postage-stamp problem on Diophantine equations. Discusses ways to uncover all solutions to the problem. (ASK)

Presents responses to a division problem appearing in the September, 1998 "problem solvers" section of this journal. (ASK)

Examines ways in which teachers can develop children's abilities to mathematize their world by articulating mathematical problems in situations, then solving and discussing their solutions. Contains 11 references. (ASK)

This study explores pupils' performance and processes in tasks involving equations and inequalities of complex numbers requiring conversions from a geometric representation to an algebraic representation and conversions in the reverse direction, and also in complex numbers problem solving. Data were collected from 95 pupils of the final grade from…

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;…

This book contains a classroom-tested approach to the teaching of problem solving to all students in Grades 4-6, regardless of ability. Information on problem solving in general is provided, then mathematical problems on logic, whole numbers, number theory, fractions, decimals, geometry, ratio, proportion, percent, probability, sets, and…

Investigations which employ a search for a number pattern as an approach to solving a geometry problem are discussed. Four problems are presented, with suggestions for testing simple cases, discussion questions, organizing information, and conclusions to be drawn. (MNS)

The author observes that checking the closure property is redundant for most number systems and therefore hard for students to understand. He defines several systems which are not closed, develops two concepts related to closure, and provides many related examples. (SD)

This is one of a series that is a collection of translations from the extensive Soviet literature of the past 25 years on research in the psychology of mathematics instruction. It also includes works on methods of teaching mathematics directly influenced by the psychological research. Selected papers and books considered to be of value to the…

ACCORDING TO PIAGET, THE CONCEPT OF CONSERVATION IS A PREREQUISITE TO MATHEMATICAL UNDERSTANDING. THIS STUDY SOUGHT TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE ABILITY OF FIRST GRADE CHILDREN TO SOLVE ADDITION PROBLEMS WAS DEPENDENT ON THEIR MASTERY OF CONSERVATION OF NUMEROUSNESS. SECONDARY PURPOSES WERE TO INVESTIGATE THE EFFECT IN PROBLEM STATEMENTS OF (1)…

This study focused on (1) the relation or transition between the measurement and partitive settings for division, and (2) the study of these two interpretations in general case where the remainder is not necessarily zero. Ninety-four second-grade pupils from four classrooms (two in each of two schools) were presented, through individual…