This booklet is one in a series on different education topics intended to help parents make the most of their child's natural curiosity and become an integral part of reaching the National Education Goals as set forth by the President and governors in 1990. The book suggests ways that parents can generate interest in mathematics in children aged…

This document contains plenary and contributed papers presented at the seventh PME meeting, held near Jerusalem, Israel in July 1983. Three plenary papers focused on implicit models in solving problems, discussions with teachers and children, and heuristics. Contributed papers were classified under seven headings: learning theories…

An editorial and abstracts for 12 research reports are contained in this issue. The editorial by Robert E. Reys focuses on the dangers of publishing poor research. The abstracts, each with a critique, concern research on a game for logical reasoning, wait-time and sex differences, vocabulary instruction on ratio and proportion, male-female…

This document describes a mathematics course that uses the computer to solve mathematics problems. It was developed to be used with students who have completed at least one year of general mathematics or are not achieving success in the traditional mathematics program. The course is intended to review, reinforce, and extend concepts included in…

This unit is 1 of 12 developed for the university classroom portion of the Mathematics-Methods Program (MMP), created by the Indiana University Mathematics Education Development Center (MEDC) as an innovative program for the mathematics training of prospective elementary school teachers (PSTs). Each unit is written in an activity format that…

This mathematics handbook is designed for Adult Basic Education (ABE) teachers in order to strengthen their teaching skills in mathematics. Sections include: ABE mathematics scope and sequence charts, characteristics of the adult learners, explanations of math terminology, symbols, tables of measures, and an ABE mathematics assessment instrument…

Describes a teaching experiment that evaluated published supplemental materials used to aid preparation of lessons at the fourth grade level involving nonroutine word problems. Lists 12 insights gained that can be useful to teachers using commercially produced problem-solving materials. (MDH)

This study was an investigation of the influence of word-problem context--the nonmathematical, verbal aspect of a problem--on fourth- and sixth-grade students' preferences for and problem solving performance on word problems. Problems were parallel in mathematical structure but differed by major context category--fantasy and real-world.…

Algebra word problems were analyzed in terms of the information integration tasks that are required to solve the problems. These tasks were classified into three levels: value assignment, value derivation, and equation construction. Novices (35 first year algebra students) and experts (13 analytic geometry students) were compared on the proportion…

By translating inequalities into equations (e.g., x greater than 0 can be written x- absolute value of x = 0) and forming equations for unions and intersections of solution sets, students can develop equations for polygons. The method can be generalized to yield equations in three dimensions. (SD)

There are many ways to generate mathematical problems from a starting point. This author shares some thoughts that led to production of a number of them. The problems contained here range in level from Kindergarten to college. Walter starts by providing the problems so that the reader will have the opportunity to solve them without any hints.…

The paper is a discussion of research on direct instruction and its implications for effective instruction in verbal math problem solving for elementary learning disabled students. Characteristics and problems of conventional programs are reviewed, as are the major features and logic of direct instruction programing. Components of instructional…

Simple and complex addition problems were presented for true/false verification to 30 undergraduate students to test a general model for cognitive addition. Problems were presented on a microcomputer, with reaction time (RT) and response accuracy recorded. Models for addition were fit to average RT data using multiple regression techniques. These…

The possibility of non-transitivity of preference choices is discussed. One example each from voting and from sports demonstrate some conditions where transitivity does not hold. Suggestions are made for using this type of problem in the classroom. (LS)

A problem is posed concerning the area of certain parts of a plane geometric figure. The problem was used in a student contest with 71 of 270 mathletes answering correctly. An outline of the general proof is given. (LS)