Spatial thinking has roles to facilitate learners to remember, understand, reason, and communicate objects and the connections among objects that are represented in space. This research aims to analyze the spatial thinking process of students in constructing new knowledge seen from the field-independent cognitive style learners based on…

Many types of learning require the mapping of information across situations. The proposed organizational framework extends the cognitive study of mappings across problems to include mappings across representations, solutions, and sociocultural contexts. I apply one-to-one, one-to-many, and partial mappings to analyze representative cases that…

A discussion of what constitutes proof is given. Methods of teaching proof in a more intuitive and informal way than is usually done are suggested. (MK)

Mathematical activities suitable for reproduction as worksheets are suggested. These activities are adaptations of the classic tower puzzle and are intended to help students discover patterns, make generalizations, and use the strategy of solving simpler problems in order to solve a more difficult one. (MK)

A problem sometimes called Moser's circle problem where a circular region has to be partitioned with chords without any three chords intersecting at one point, is discussed. It is shown that Moser's circle problem makes the students to use a variety of mathematical tools to find correct solutions to problems and gives an opportunity to think about…

Two posters that can be used to provide experience in recognizing patterns in sequences of numbers are provided. Suggested number sequences for different grade levels are given. (MK)

Combining both the Western perspective of creativity as productivity and the Eastern perspective of creativity as enlightenment, a Program for Enlightened and Productive Creativity (PEPC) for teaching inquiry was devised. The PEPC describes stages through which a student is guided to solve a problem using increasingly complex observation, inquiry,…

Explores the following classical problem: given any 30 points on a circle, join them in pairs by segments in all possible ways. What is the greatest number of nonoverlapping regions into which the interior of the circle can be separated? Presents strategies for solving this problem. (PK)

Quilt-making is presented as an activity that helps elementary school children recognize and appreciate geometry in their world while developing their problem-solving skills. Students choose an appropriate pattern and cooperatively make the quilt. Related measurement questions and problems are provided. (MDH)