The Family Math Program is an outgrowth of the Equals Program at the Lawrence Hall of Science at UC Berkeley. Piloted in 1982 in Richmond, California, this widespread program boasts a simple philosophy: Families "doing math" will get the same result as families who read--improved skills and enjoyment. The program also confronts parental…

The thinking-out-loud procedure provides teachers with an excellent mechanism for collecting information about students' thought processes and affective states during problem solving. Mathematics teachers can implement this process by modeling it during whole-class problem-solving sessions, proceeding slowly and encouragingly, working with small…

Calculator riddles can interest elementary students in math. Solving riddles where a numerical answer turned upside down reveals a word answer provides an amusing way to practice mathematical operations and learn about calculator functions. The paper explains how to create word riddles and includes student work pages. (SM)

Shares a problem-solving activity in which the aim is to find out how fifth-grade students would approach a nontraditional problem in which several conditions had to be met. Asks teachers to consider student observations in their teaching. (ASK)

Presents an alternative pedagogy implicit in Imre Lakatos's "Proofs and Refutations: The Logic of Mathematical Discovery." Lakatos reveals that learning mathematics is a discourse-laden activity in which it is acceptable, if not preferable, to refute conjecture. Provides examples of using a Lakatosian approach in an elementary classroom.…

Exploration of collaboration preferences of six mathematically gifted children (ages 11-12) in solving complex, novel problems found collaboration was preferred only when the task was sufficiently challenging. When collaboration was encouraged there was the development of mutual scaffolding, shared cognition, critical thinking, and discernment and…

Examines the impact of the first two units of a sixth-grade curriculum module implemented in a public school during the 1993-94 school year. Describes the underlying rationale and content of the entire nine-unit module and focuses on units on area and volume. Concludes with a discussion of implications and suggestions for curriculum refinement.…

Presents a mathematics activity using hand-held technology that can be used with elementary school students. Uses graphing calculators and calculator-based laboratories in this activity. (Contains 11 references.) (ASK)

Analyzes the individual and collective activities of fourth grade students while trying to explain a school fellow's mistake in the use of a geometrical schema for the sunshadows phenomenon. Aims at detecting productive links between context-related argumentation and mathematical modeling as well as discussing their relevance for mathematics…

This document is a collection of eight games from four continents. Students use mathematics that is directly relevant to them as they take part in the games. The first five games (NIM, Kalah, Tower of Hanoi, Shongo Networks, and Magic Squares) feature presentation instructions that describe multiple-session classroom activities for grades 5-8.…

This paper reports on a teaching experiment involving decimal instruction conducted with a class of elementary students (n=20) in a public school of a small city. After doing extensive work with multiplication, division, ratio, and fractions through an innovative mathematics curriculum, fifth grade students were introduced to decimal numbers. To…

With the Seeing and Thinking Mathematically materials, students learn mathematics by doing mathematics, by using and connecting mathematical ideas, and by actively constructing their own understandings. In this unit students learn to see probability through a mathematical lens by exploring and creating games and simulations and by applying the…

This six month study investigated the similarities and differences between 137 fourth graders' understanding of and reasoning about multiplication, division, and proportion tasks. All students were administered a pretest mid-year and a posttest at the end of year. A sample of 18 students was interviewed individually on tasks involving reasoning…

This study focused on analyzing children's difficulties with two-step mathematical word problems. Seventy-one fifth-grade children in Puerto Rico were individually observed solving five problems. Two of these were two-step problems; the remaining three were one-step problems with the same mathematical structures as the components of the two-step…

To encourage the interest in research and statistics of students in grades five and six in a rural school in Arkansas, the researcher and the elementary school principal investigated areas in which the students could participate in decision-making. Several possibilities emerged: quality of a good teacher, school awards and honors, school rules,…