We discuss how discourse actions can provide students greater access to high quality mathematics. We define discourse actions as what teachers or students say or do to elicit student contributions about a mathematical idea and generate ongoing discussion around student contributions. We provide rubrics and checklists for readers to use.
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Over the past 100 years, technology has evolved in unprecedented fashion. Calculators, computers, and smart phones have become ubiquitous, yet school mathematics experiences for many children still remain without many powerful technological tools for the exploration of mathematics. We consider the evolution of some tools as we imagine a future.
Odd Shape Out
big solutions to little problems
Jo Ann Cady and Pamela Wells
Solutions to a previous Solve It problem are discussed, and the procedures used with problem solving are explored.
Matt B. Roscoe and Joe Zephyrs
Pull on the threads of congruence and similarity in a series of lessons that explores transformational geometry.
Lynn Mitzel and Mark Spanier
When it was released in the mid-1980s, Tetris jump-started the video game craze, but many students of the current generation have never even seen this game, much less played it. Now, with the flood of mobile device applications, Tetris has made a comeback, and today's students have a chance to use it, too. We have found Tetris to be an engaging tool for high school geometry students to apply an isometry in context and to learn the composition of isometries. The game allows a player to rotate and translate moving pieces to create full rows anywhere on the screen.
A set of problems of many types.
Lincoln Peirce
A cartoon involving presidential birth dates is coupled with a full-page activity sheet.
Jennifer R. Brown
Set sail to explore powerful ways to use anchor charts in mathematics teaching and learning.
Mathematical Explorations: A New Twist on Collaborative Learning
classroom-ready activities
Stephanie M. Butman
Research on students' learning has made it clear that learning happens through an interaction with others and through communication. In the classroom, the more students talk and discuss their ideas, the more they learn. However, within a one-hour period, it is hard to give everyone an equal opportunity to talk and share their ideas. Organizing students in groups distributes classroom talk more widely and equitably (Cohen and Lotan 1997).
Ron Lancaster
Students analyze items from the media to answer mathematical questions related to the article.