During the author's eighteen-year tenure as a high school mathematics teacher, there has been one question that she has yet to answer: "Why don't students do homework?" On the basis of research, many factors may lead to a student leaving homework undone. A student may lack the drive to complete work out of school. Or a student may choose…

In the authors' attempts to incorporate problem solving into their mathematics courses, they have found that student ambition and creativity are often hampered by feelings of risk, as many students are conditioned to value a produced solution over the actual process of building one. Eliminating risk is neither possible nor desired. The challenge,…

Teams, pit stops, clues, time limits, fast forwards, challenges, and prizes are all components of the CBS hit show "The Amazing Race." They were also elements of the Amazing Mathematical Race sponsored by the Math and Stats Club at Northern Kentucky University in April 2009. Held in recognition of Math Awareness Month, which is advocated…

In this article, mathematics teachers in the United States were asked what constitutes a high-quality mathematics lesson. The returned responses varied greatly. This same question was asked of Japanese teachers also. For a clearer picture both American and Japanese teachers were directed to comment on videotaped mathematics lessons taught in both…

This article discusses how teachers can organize and use mathemagic tricks in their curriculum and classroom to enhance conceptual understanding. Four mathemagic tricks are presented and analyzed. (Contains 3 figures and 5 online resources.)

A WebQuest is an inquiry-based lesson plan that uses the Internet. This article explains what a WebQuest is, shows how to create one, and provides an example. When engaged in a WebQuest, students use technology to experience cooperative learning and discovery learning while honing their research, writing, and presentation skills. It has been found…

In this article we discuss how classroom voting can be used to create an active learning environment, to provide immediate feedback for both students and teacher and to motivate students to participate in discussions about mathematics.

Presents suggestions for improving textbook and classroom word problems: (1) Avoid composing exercises that inspire unanswerable questions, (2) State problems in terms of the future instead of the past, and (3) Find motivation for solving a problem beyond idle curiosity; some advantage should be gained from solving the problem. (MKR)

Uses a graphing calculator to show examples of misrepresentations of periodic functions to help increase student interest and explore mathematical relationships. (MKR)

Discusses how using quotations in mathematics class can alleviate narrow, educationally detrimental misconceptions of the nature of mathematics by illustrating its richer aspects. Lists some quotations on different aspects of mathematics and provides information for finding quotations. Contains 26 references. (ASK)

Describes an activity in which students present two mathematics-related quotations, one written by a famous mathematician and one original statement that they themselves have written. Encourages students with different strengths and learning styles to participate more fully in the lesson. (ASK)

Examples used to illustrate Simpson's paradox for secondary students include probabilities, university admissions, batting averages, student-faculty ratios, and average and expected class sizes. Each result is explained. (DC)

Shares a method that encourages students to read the mathematics textbook by quizzing the students on the ideas read in the previous day's assignment. Describes how the quizzes are administered and provides examples of typical quizzes. (MDH)

Relationships among the sides are developed for right triangles whose sides are in the ratios 1:3, 1:4, and 1:5. The golden ratio appears in the results which can be used in secondary mathematics. (DC)

Presented is a method for solving certain types of problems, with the goal of piquing students' interest in studying affine geometry, which underlines the method. (MNS)