Presents a research project on the development of pre-service teachers' skills and understanding of themselves as pedagogical problem solvers. Argues that by adopting a problem-solving approach to teaching, teachers would be better able to view themselves as competent problem solvers who are able to develop various strategies to deal with change.…

Presents an instrument designed as a profile of teacher achievement and teacher needs with regard to the probability and statistics strands in the mathematics curriculum. Discusses uses for the instrument and further development possibilities. (MM)

Contributes to a further understanding of the significance of one teacher's beliefs and images of school mathematics on his teaching practices. Describes a novice teacher whose images of school mathematics were strongly influenced by the current mathematics education reform. Focuses on how the teacher coped with the complexities. (Contains 19…

Presents evidence of the influence of professional development and curriculum on upper elementary students' understanding of fractions. Subjects included three groups of teachers and their students. Indicates that the benefits of reform curriculum for students may depend upon integrated professional development. (Contains 60 references.)…

Presents an activity using fractal cards--eye-catching pop-up cards--by applying simple iterative processes to single sheets of paper. This activity incorporates the concepts of measurement, number systems, sequences, series, limits, recursion, iteration, self-similarity, and fractional dimensions. Contains 12 references. (ASK)

Presents an activity on the simplification of penguin counting by employing the basic ideas and principles of sampling to teach students to understand and recognize its role in statistical claims. Emphasizes estimation, data analysis and interpretation, and central limit theorem. Includes a list of items for classroom discussion. (ASK)

Presents a case study of one high school student's experiences in a first-year algebra course. Emphasizes the use of technology and how it changed the mathematics curriculum. (ASK)

Poses and solves several related extensions involving enumerating squares and rectangles. Describes how problem extensions can be developed and used in the classroom to motivate and challenge teachers and students to exert themselves mathematically. (ASK)

Presents an activity for eighth-grade students and beyond to explore relationships between and among the areas of various polygons. Emphasizes that students should be given the opportunity to design their own examples. (ASK)

Illustrates how engagement in worthwhile mathematical tasks can provide rich opportunities for professional development. Presents different solution strategies for the effective tax rate problem. Emphasizes that, to help students recognize differences among the preceding arguments, teachers need to recognize reasoning based on part-whole…

Presents two problems whose solutions can be enhanced using the Geometer's Sketchpad to solve the problems. Concludes that available computer technology can aid in the analysis and solution of some interesting geometry problems. (ASK)

Reviews an alternative patterning approach and highlights the difficulties it can present when students lack the requisite skills and knowledge of processes. Describes how this approach can be used to introduce elementary algebraic ideas and offers recommendations for establishing these important understandings. (ASK)

Presents activities to cultivate the tendency to see special qualities in numbers that can be played on certain calendar days. Includes games on the constant of the day, Fibonacci and golden ratio dates, primes, powers, December 25, and the day of the year. (ASK)

Presents activities to demonstrate the use of spreadsheets in mathematics classrooms. Emphasizes writing across the curriculum and interdisciplinary team teaching. Argues that spreadsheets allow students to make projections, comparisons, and contrasts. (ASK)

Discusses the process and the usefulness of translating empirical logic puzzles into mathematical problems which may be more easily solved, then translating the answer back into the context of the original problem. Presents nine logic puzzles devised by Lewis Carroll, with answers. (AIM)