Described is an activity in which students develop their own number system. This activity allow students to examine the structure and history of number systems and to discover the power and respectable efficiency of the number system used today. (KR)

In this article, the author believes that a visual image of the number system is helpful to everyone, especially children, in understanding what is, after all, an abstract idea. The simplest model is the number line, a row of equally spaced numbers, starting at zero. This illustrates the continuous progression of the natural numbers, moving to the…

Not all children are made the same. Learning disabilities like dyslexia, dysgraphia or dyscalculia are either not understood or ignored in schools. As a result, the schoolchildren suffer for no fault of theirs and they lag behind in their course of learning. They may find it difficult to achieve the basic skills of learning such as reading,…

Despite widespread agreement that the activity of "reasoning-and-proving" should be central to all students' mathematical experiences, many students face serious difficulties with this activity. Mathematics textbooks can play an important role in students' opportunities to engage in reasoning-and-proving: research suggests that many decisions that…

A current issue in developmental science is that greater continuity in cognition between children and adults may exist than is usually appreciated in Piaget-like (stages or "staircase") models. This phenomenon has been demonstrated at the behavioural level, but never at the brain level. Here we show with functional magnetic resonance imaging…

Two intervention studies are described. Both were designed to study the effects of teaching children about the inverse relation between addition and subtraction. The interventions were successful with 8-year-old children in Study 1 and to a limited extent with 5-year-old children in Study 2. In Study 1 teaching children about inversion increased…

This article presents a simple procedure to generate a sequence of rational numbers converging on the square root of 2, yielding common fraction approximations that motivate and illuminate the definition of real numbers based on rationals. Examples suggest that any irrational number can be approximated as closely as desired. A bibliography is…

Illustrates how a number system in a foreign language can be taught and learned in a cultural context. (PMP)

The major portion of the article establishes the basis for the stated rule - to divide by a fraction, turn it upside down and multiply. With this background, three justifications for the rule are given. Several possible errors in students' use of the rule are noted. (LS)

This is one of a series of units intended for both preservice and inservice elementary school teachers to satisfy a need for materials on "new mathematics" programs which (1) are readable on a self basis or with minimal instruction, (2) show the pedagogical objectives and uses of such mathematical structural ideas as the field axioms,…

The teacher's guide for the third unit of this SMSG series covers the two chapters on number theory and on the integers. The overall purpose for each of the chapters is described, the prerequisite knowledge needed by students is specified, the mathematical development of each chapter is detailed, behavioral objectives are stated, and a time…