Ten teachers successfully taught first- and second-grade children to count up while keeping track with finger patterns. Learning to subtract by counting up greatly improved children's performance on take-away, compare, and equalize word problems, and enabled them to accelerate by as much as three years their learning of subtraction topics. (MNS)

Validated models of mental addition processing by testing children and adults in a production task paradigm. Examined individual-difference relations between strategy choice parameters and criterion-related measures of ability. Found that individual differences in the apparently calculative processes that underlie numerical facility are highly…

Features five activities to nurture "number sense," promote practice in mental calculations, and promote student self-confidence in mathmatical operations. These are "hands-off" exercises that are preparatory to calculator and computer use for math. (ET)

Describes how a children's book on counting was used in integrated mathematics-literature lessons in first-grade classrooms and how students created their own texts. (11 references) (MKR)

Presents activities utilized with primary teachers to alleviate instructional concerns about using calculators and provide reasons for using calculators in their mathematics instruction. Activities address the topics of estimation, number sense, numeration, whole number and fraction operations, probability, and problem solving. (MDH)

Discussed are the possible uses of spreadsheets in the undergraduate curriculum in chemical engineering classes. The advantages and flexibility of spreadsheets, spreadsheet instruction, graphing capabilities, assignment examples, and conclusions are described. (KR)

Presents an activity for representing a given number in as many ways as possible using short periods of time to develop students' number sense and provide the teacher the opportunity to make informal student assessment and diagnosis. Provides specific dialogue of the activity being used in a third grade class. (MDH)

Discusses ways that calculators and computer microworlds, such as LOGO and Shape Makers, can be used as tools for exploration, problem solving, and empowerment in school mathematics. Includes suggestions for classroom activities. (Contains 12 references.) (MKR)

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (New York) is requiring all of its 1,000 freshmen to take required calculus courses utilizing the "Maple" computer program which can perform computations and quickly plot graphs. The program is intended to free students from meaningless manipulations and focus on concepts. Most students have reacted…

An activity in which students obtain a growth curve for algae, identify the exponential and linear growth phases, and calculate the parameters which characterize both phases is described. The procedure, a list of required materials, experimental conditions, analytical technique, and a discussion of the interpretations of individual results are…

Discusses mathematical tasks, classroom environments, and means of assessment that might encourage mathematical growth for middle grades students. Proposes a curriculum emphasizing mathematical connections, reasoning, and problem solving. Describes shifts in the culture of the mathematics classroom that support students' development of…

Kindergarten (n=30) and grade 1 (n=15) students of contrasting socioeconomic backgrounds were interviewed to assess their knowledge of number word sequences and spatial patterns and their ability to recognize numerals and use counting to establish numerosity of visible and screened collections. Findings indicate greater variation in abilities…

Presents an algorithm to estimate pi by approximating a unit circle with a sequence of inscribed regular polygons. Demonstrates the application of the algorithm with a hand-held calculator and an Apple computer. Provides a program to calculate pi in Pascal programing language. (12 references) (MDH)

Emphasizes a real-world-problem situation using sine law and cosine law. Angles of elevation from two tracking stations located in the plane of the equator determine height of a satellite. Calculators or computers can be used. (LDR)

Mathematics that exists in the Mende culture, an African tribe in Sierra Leone, includes counting, computation, ratios, fractions, forecasting games, and mathematical applications. Presents The Mende representations of these concepts and discusses implications of their integration into mathematics teaching. (MDH)