As is the case in any country there is a constant search to improve the mathematics offerings presented to school-goers in South Africa. The activity surrounding this search was intensified after the attainment of democracy. The primary aim of this search was to establish a mathematics curriculum that would result in productive learning and the…

Investigates how well National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)-oriented students do on standardized mathematics tests and whether the tests truly measure the skills that these students have. Shows that students in one NCTM-oriented curriculum displayed such qualities as engagement, eagerness, communication, flexibility, and curiosity to…

Discusses reform efforts in mathematics education that challenge teachers to assess traditional forms of assessment and explore and implement alternative ones. Highlights insightful perspectives on assessment strategies and techniques currently being addressed and implemented. Describes middle school mathematics teachers' experiences and…

Describes a project in an elementary mathematics methods course in which preservice teachers developed performance assessment tasks then administered these tasks in a K-8 classroom. Presents the guiding framework for this project, the project design, and the teaching and learning experiences for project leaders and preservice teachers. Includes…

Explores policy, practice, and research issues related to teaching and learning mathematics in multilingual classrooms in South Africa. Focuses on code-switching in multilingual mathematics classrooms. Points to the significance of language as power in mathematics education settings. Demonstrates the need for researching the relationship between…

Explores factors that affect student learning and the well-publicized achievement gap between students from different ethnic and socio-economic groups. Poses some questions and offers some thoughts on how beliefs, attitudes, values, and emotions about teaching and learning, nature of schools, culture, and language effect equity in mathematics…

Develops a model of mathematical learning from an exploration of educational research and personal observations. Uses Kolb's model of experiential learning to characterize four mathematical learning styles: (1) allegorizers; (2) integrators; (3) analyzers; and (4) synthesizers. These styles are viewed as corresponding to four stages of…

Reviews the article, "Can Mathematics Education and History of Mathematics Coexist?" (M.N. Fried) which appeared in "Science and Education". Challenges Fried's assertion that combining history of mathematics with mathematics education is inherently difficult. The assertion is considered flawed in terms of both its view of history and a limited…

Children's number sequence progress through several developmental changes that are brought about through adaptations in the children's counting activities. Introduces key psychological aspects of number sequences, pre-numerical counting schemes, an initial number sequence, a tacitly-nested number sequence, explicitly-nested number sequence, and…

Discusses calls for change in educational reform in mathematics education. Describes one approach to systemic assessment reform in a large suburban county. Presents teacher reactions toward the projects. Indicates that teachers had some struggles when creating alternative assessment tasks. (Contains 18 references.) (Author/ASK)

Discusses the messages in problem contexts in Standards 2000 from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). Makes comparisons with the NCTM Standards from 1989. Indicates that the new standards continue to ignore the power that mathematics can have in debate and discussion of issues critical to the elimination of social and economic…

This document contains the two issues of "Rural Mathematics Educator" published in 2002. This newsletter of the Appalachian Collaborative Center for Learning, Assessment, and Instruction in Mathematics (ACCLAIM) includes articles on rural mathematics education, as well as information and descriptions of professional development opportunities for…

Addresses the use of subjective judgment in research that involves statistical/quantitative methods with regard to four aspects of quantitative research: (1) design; (2) preliminary analyses; (3) general analyses; and (4) specific analyses. (Contains 37 references.) (ASK)

Studies the amount of attention to various kinds of activities and how students are called upon to process information in typical mathematics lessons, and whether this focus indicates a balanced program with respect to procedural knowledge, conceptual knowledge, and mathematical activity. (Contains 15 references.) (ASK)

Discusses linguistic influence on children's numerical development. Describes and reviews recent papers that address the relationship between number naming systems and children's numerical concepts. (Contains 20 references.) (ASK)