Discusses professional development intervention that attempted to start a professional community of secondary mathematics teachers through in-service work on mathematical problem solving and technology. Suggests that use of mathematical content explorations in professional development settings help mathematics teachers build professional…

Methods for teaching problem-solving strategies for word problems to students with learning disabilities are described in the context of the 1989 National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Curriculum and Evaluation Standards. Examples are given for using the specific strategies of diagrams, ratio equations, tables, and inverse operation…

Describes middle school students' efforts to investigate and fairly compensate the three bears, who incurred some losses at the hands of Goldilocks. Problems include investigating replacement costs of the damaged items, the cost to house Goldilocks in a state school, and the value of appropriate types of community service before determining…

This activity involves students investigating the mathematics of packaging and exploring various concepts in geometry, including area and the Pythagorean theorem. Mathematics comes out of the discussion of packaging cans into six-packs and focuses on the cost-effectiveness of the horizontal storage area used. Students learn how knowledge of…

Argues that genuine problem solving and investigation on the part of pupils rarely occurs in mathematics classrooms in Hong Kong and other Asian countries. Provides a rationale for drawing problems from the content of a curriculum or syllabus. (DDR)

Explores how to know when children think mathematically, how to establish a setting that elicits mathematical thinking, and what to learn about children as a result. Fourth grade students think and talk mathematically while tackling a real-life PACKETS program. Addresses content standards involving proportional reasoning as well as the process…

Presents a classroom project in which children use bottles and sand to explore mathematics. (Author)

Describes a project incorporating movies, literature, games, and other resources into mathematics instruction. Focuses on cultural differences. (Contains 10 references.) (YDS)

Discusses problem solving in mathematics instruction and examines the role of students, teachers, and computers in the problem solving process. Seven sample problems that require high school mathematics and some knowledge of a programing language are offered for use in exploring the problem solving process. (LRW)

Interest in mathematics can often be generated by seemingly nonmathematical items. A card trick from a course in recreational mathematics for middle school students is described. It involves several important mathematical activities: problem-solving analysis, making a conjecture and testing it, discovering, and verbalizing. (MNS)

The focus is on using mathematical concepts and operations to decode holiday messages. Worksheets are provided for levels one-two, three-four, five-six, and seven-eight. (MNS)

Presented are examples of how the terminology used in typical rate questions is misunderstood by a large proportion of students. Explanations based on both interviews and paper-and-pencil tests are given as to why this phenomenon exists. (MNS)

Illustrates the multiple strategies used by second graders to solve a problem with three addends and how their teacher tries to map their thinking into the system of mathematical notation. Describes the American Federation of Teachers' Thinking Mathematics program that the teacher uses. (MKR)

Presents an integrated math/science activity in which families work together at an activity station and design and make a track for a marble to travel down using rules attached to a board. (MKR)

Investigated individual differences in (n=100) 10th-grade students' forms of visual thinking and related intuitions in the context of mathematical problem solving. Results suggest that success at problem solving was related to logical operational ability but not to vividness of visual imagery. (29 references) (Author/SYB)