This book is designed to help adults gain the range of math skills they need to succeed in life and work and on standardized tests, including the GED. It is expected to help students overcome math anxiety, discover math as interesting and purposeful, and develop good number sense. Lessons are organized around four strands: (1) skill lessons that…

This paper briefly reviews research grounded in cultural and socio-constructivist theories carried out to investigate the phenomenon of suspension of sense-making when doing school arithmetic word problems. It begins with ascertaining studies documenting and marking out the phenomenon, then provides an explanation of the observed effects that are…

Leadership can improve reading curriculum in numerous ways. Teachers and supervisors show leadership in the way they decide how to teach and maintain students' attention; structure lessons; motivate students; give individualized attention; assess students; and solve problems. Reading supervisors provide leadership to students as well as teachers,…

This study explores students algebraic and geometric approach in solving tasks in functions and the relation of these approaches with complex geometric problem solving. Data were obtained from 95 sophomore pre-service teachers, enrolled in a basic algebra course. Implicative statistical analysis was performed to evaluate the relation between…

This research study deals with the modes of representation that ninth-graders choose in order to communicate their problem solving paths and justifications, and the relation between these modes of representations and achievement level. The findings are based on analysis of 350 answers to problems that demanded communication of reasoning,…

The integration of History in the educational practice can lead to the development of a series of activities exploiting genetic "moments" of the history of Mathematics. Utilizing genetic ideas that developed during the 14th century (Merton College, N. Oresme), activities are developed and mathematical models for solving problems related to uniform…

The study proves that a didactical model based in a method to solve word problems of increasing complexity which uses a numerical approach was essential to develop the analytical ability and the competent use of the algebraic language with students from three different performance levels in elementary algebra. It is shown that before using the…

The Malaysian educational system tends to take a clear instructionally-focused approach to the teaching of mathematics. This means that many students gain a good procedural command of areas of mathematics. This paper explores one outcome of a teaching experiment in which one area of mathematics (differentiation) was taught in a radically different…

This paper presents the design and some results of a series of teaching experiments. The design was created to develop a model for everyday math lessons, that describes the conditions which foster or hinder the construction of new mathematical meanings. The development process includes the students' epistemic processes, their social interactions,…

This research report presents a study of the work of agronomy majors in which an extension of linear models to non-linear contexts can be observed. By linear models we mean the model y=a.x+b, some particular representations of direct proportionality and the diagram for the rule of three. Its presence and persistence in different types of problems…

We deal with the study of the senses and the meanings generated in the representation of the unknowns in the resolution of word problems involving two unknown quantities. The discussed cases show the difficulties that the students beginning the algebra learning have to deal with when using the equality between "unknown things". For them,…

In this work we show some activities designed with a First Year group of the Mathematics Degree to give the graphic register back its mathematical status and promote its use on the part of the students. In particular, we have chosen the topic related to improper integration to reinforce the use of this register by the students. [For complete…

This paper uses data from two mathematics lessons to explore the nature of progressive discourse and examine critical features of teacher actions that contribute to mathematics classrooms functioning as communities of inquiry. Features found to promote progressive discourse include a focus on the conceptual elements of the curriculum and the use…

This paper presents preliminary hypotheses about a common core of faculty beliefs about how their students learn to solve problems in their introductory courses. Using a process of structured interviews and a concept map based analysis, we find that faculty appear to believe that students learn problem solving primarily through a process of…

This document introduces Virginia's Oyster Reef Teaching EXperience (VORTEX), which is an interdisciplinary program focusing on the importance of oyster reef communities in the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. The VORTEX program uses field and laboratory experiences supported by multimedia instruction. This document presents an overview on the biology of…