In our attempts to make a concept easier, we may hinder student learning.
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Stefanie D. Livers, Kristin E. Harbour, and Lindsey Fowler
Annie Perkins and Christy Pettis
Students are given a problem to break down rectangles.
Students use a super-hero theme to compare the imperial system to the metric system.
Stephen Phelps
Edited by Anna F. DeJarnette
A monthly set of problems targets a variety of ability levels.
Lingguo Bu
The rise of dynamic modeling and 3-D design technologies provides appealing opportunities for mathematics teachers to reconsider a host of pedagogical issues in mathematics education, ranging from motivation to application and from visualization to physical manipulation. This article reports on a classroom teaching experiment about cube spinning, integrating traditional tools, GeoGebra (www.geogebra.org), and 3-D design and printing technologies. It highlights the rich interplay between worthwhile mathematical tasks and the strategic use of diverse technologies in sustaining sense making and problem solving with a group of prospective teachers.
P. Reneé Hill-Cunningham
Hundreds of species of animals around the world are losing their habitats and food supplies, are facing extinction, or have been hunted or otherwise negatively influenced by humans. Students learn about some of these animals and explore multiple solution strategies as they solve this month's problems. Math by the Month features collections of short activities focused on a monthly theme. These articles aim for an inquiry or problem-solving orientation that includes four activities each for grade bands K–2, 3–4, and 5–6.
Sarah A. Roller, Elizabeth P. Cunningham, and Katherine Ariemma Marin
Use photographs as a formative assessment tool.
Megan H. Wickstrom, Elizabeth Fulton, and Dacia Lackey
Use those multicolored linking bricks to help students connect measurement with an understanding of number and operations as well as fractions.
Florencia Park and Hannah Lee
Geometry is much more than learning vocabulary and identifying shapes; it involves developing spatial sense—an intuition about shapes and the relationship between them. In this Let's Build It activity, students reason about geometric shapes and their attributes as they use newspaper dowels to build two- and three-dimensional structures.
