This article describes "Build It!--The Rectangle Game" task that uses the context of a game to develop mathematical generalizations based on strategy. The underlying mathematics in this game-based task is for students to discover factors and prime and composite numbers through 100. The playful use of "The Rectangle Game"…

The purpose of the present article is to investigate the definition of matrix multiplication as a central issue in linear algebra courses. Applying both historical and pedagogical approaches, it focuses on the philosophy of generating the usual matrix multiplication, as a special binary operation, with its partly unexpected form compared with the…

The purpose of this work is to explore alternative geometric pedagogical perspectives concerning justifications to 'fast' multiplication algorithms in a way that fosters opportunities for skill and understanding within younger, or less algebraically inclined, learners. Drawing on a visual strategy to justify these algorithms creates pedagogical…

By using high-leverage models to connect student learning experiences to overarching concepts in mathematics, teachers can anchor learning in ways that allow students to make sense of content on the basis of their own prior experiences. A rectangular area model can be used as a tool for understanding problems that involve multiplicative reasoning.…

In this paper, we present, analyse and critique an episode from a secondary school lesson involving an introduction to the definition of the scalar product. Although the teacher attempted to be explicit about the difference between a definition and a theorem, emphasizing that a definition was just an arbitrary assumption, a student rejected the…

The movie "Frozen" took the world by storm and this global popularity of the movie and its music can be harnessed by teachers of mathematics. This article builds on the "frozen fractal" lyric from "Let It Go" to incorporate fractal geometry into primary mathematics classrooms.

The Common Core State Standards Initiative stresses the importance of developing a geometric and algebraic understanding of complex numbers in their different forms (i.e., Cartesian, polar and exponential). Unfortunately, most high school textbooks do not offer such explanations much less exercises that encourage students to bridge geometric and…

We examine how rectangular array model can support students' spatial structuring in learning multiplication. To begin, we define what we mean by spatial structuring as the mental operation of constructing an organization or form for an object or set of objects. For that reason, the eggs problem was chosen as the starting point in which the…

This study investigated children's understanding of area measurement, including the concept of area and the area formula of a rectangle, as well as their strategic knowledge for solving area measurement problems. Twenty-two fourth-graders from three classes of a public elementary school in Taipei, Taiwan, participated in a one-on-one interview.…

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand numbers. Use geometric representations to teach and reinforce the multiplication tables. (Editor)

Arrays are seen as excellent models for beginning multiplication examples, but that they are often put aside by teachers when they become unwieldly for greater factors, possibly depriving learners just when they need the help. The use of grids made on paper marked in squares is suggested. (MP)

A method of teaching multiplication facts to remedial students using fingers and an alternate geometric proof developed by students are suggested. (MK)

An approach to teaching multiplication and division with negative numbers that focuses on graphs to illustrate concepts is revealed. The material and problems used are presented with comments on the teaching methods applied with 11-year-olds. (MP)

This two-volume teacher's guide is to be used with a first-semester, third-grade mathematics program. The program is in large part the outgrowth of involvement with children and was influenced by information gathered in an extended pilot project conducted nationwide during 1975-79. The manner of presentation and the pedagogical ideas and tools are…

This two-volume teacher's guide is to be used with a second-semester, third-grade mathematics program. The program is in large part the outgrowth of involvement with children and was influenced by information gathered in an extended pilot project conducted nationwide during 1975-79. The manner of presentation and the pedagogical ideas and tools…