Describes an exercise in which students can use flashlights, mirrors, and colored paper to discover scientific principles regarding optics. Addresses the concepts of angles of incidence and reflection, colored vs. white light, and mirror images. (WRM)

Introduces a project in which students use dynamic geometry software with a TI-92 graphing calculator to study geometric constructions. Concludes that interactive technology can enhance the geometry curriculum and better meet the needs of visual and tactile learners than the traditional approach. (ASK)

Reports data from a longitudinal study of 12-year-old students' interpretations of geometrical objects and relationships when using dynamic geometry software. Focuses on the progressive mathematization of the students' sense of the software, examining their interpretations, and using the explanations that students give to the geometrical…

This article explores the concept of the center of gravity and the geometry involved in locating the center of gravity of an object. (Contains 15 figures.)

This article describes how children build increasingly abstract knowledge of linear measurement, emphasizing ways they relate space and number. Assessments indicate children struggle to understand measurement, especially concepts related to complex paths as in perimeter tasks. This article draws on developmental accounts of children's knowledge of…

In this paper, I examine some issues within the new frontier of integrating technology into teacher education and professional development. I present an approach to teach a secondary mathematics methods course integrating technology. Specifically, this study focuses on how the integration of multimedia and online discussion into a mathematics…

Differentiation provides one method by which teachers can provide appropriate challenges at appropriate levels for all learners in a heterogeneously grouped mathematics classroom, where the range of abilities and interests can be wide. This article considers a heterogeneously grouped high school geometry class where differentiation is practiced.…

This paper describes a possible dragging experiment in a dynamic geometry environment (DGE) that explores a necessary and sufficient condition for cyclic quadrilateral. The dragging modalities identified by Arzarello, Olivero, Paola, and Robutti (2002) and the functions of variation realized in DGE discussed by Leung (2003) will be used as tools…

In this article we examine students' perspectives on the customary, public work of proving in American high school geometry classes. We analyze transcripts from 29 interviews in which 16 students commented on various problems and the likelihood that their teachers would use those problems to engage students in proving. We use their responses to…

This article discusses how a teacher can prepare the terrain for students to understand what it means to define a figure. Drawing on writings from mathematicians and mathematics educators on the role of definitions in mathematics, the authors argue that students develop a greater appreciation for the conciseness of a mathematical definition if…

The purpose of the present study was to present examples of the utilization of social processes such as teacher questioning and collective argumentation coupled with an appropriate use of a manipulative material to stimulate students' thinking in teaching geometry. We first present theoretical issues concerning the use of manipulatives, teacher…

Technological tools have the potential to offer students the possibility to represent information and relationships embedded in problems and concepts in ways that involve numerical, algebraic, geometric, and visual approaches. In this paper, the authors present and discuss an example in which an initial representation of a mathematical object…

If we look into the past we will discover that the teachers of thermodynamics were always trying to interpret an important part of their science by using geometry. The relation between geometry and thermodynamics is of great interest and importance in teaching thermodynamics. This article examines the way undergraduate students of thermodynamics…

This article describes a classroom activity in which a solar eclipse is simulated and a mathematical model is developed to explain the data. Students use manipulative devices and graphing calculators to carry out the experiment and then compare their results to those collected in Koolymilka, Australia, during the 2002 eclipse.

The paper starts from classroom situations about the study of a functional relationship with help of technological tools as a "transposition" of experimental approaches from research mathematical practices. It considers the limitation of this transposition in existing curricula and practices based on the use of non-symbolic software like dynamic…