How can a simple dot--the decimal point--be the source of such frustration for students and teachers? As the author worked through her own frustrations, she found that her students seemed to fall into groups in terms of misconceptions that they revealed when talking about and working with decimals. When asking students to illustrate their thinking…

The authors introduce an educational video game (application, or "app"), "CandyFactory Educational Game," designed to promote students' development of partitive understanding of fractions while demonstrating the critical need to promote that development. The app includes essential game features of immediate feedback,…

Motivating middle school students to learn can be challenging. One proven method for doing so is through an integrated curriculum. Educational philosophers and curriculum theorists have long noted the benefits of an integrated curriculum, which recognizes that the subject areas within the curriculum are connected to one another and to the real…

Middle school students' mathematical understanding benefits from connecting mathematics to other content areas in the curriculum. This month's activity explores the issue of the scarcity of freshwater, a natural resource (activity sheets are included). This activity concentrates on the critical areas mentioned in the Common Core State…

A story problem about borrowing money, presented in this article, may be represented with positive or negative numbers and thought about in different ways. The authors describe ideas related to integers (both positive and negative) and how students used them in relation to a story problem, and how they related these ideas to equations.

What better way to interest students in mathematics than using a Super Bowl® commercial? A Prudential® insurance commercial aired during the Super Bowl in 2013 was the impetus for this lesson (see it here on You-Tube™: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=IsNiKGMSHUQ). In the commercial, four hundred people were polled on "How Old Is the Oldest…

Proportional reasoning pops up in math class in a variety of places, such as while making scaled drawings; finding equivalent fractions; converting units of measurement; comparing speeds, prices, and rates; and comparing lengths, areas, and volume. Students need to be exposed to a variety of representations to develop a sound understanding of this…

Getting and keeping the attention of an eight-grade algebra class can often be a challenge. Doing so while trying to meet curriculum expectations and standards can be a daunting task unless projects are designed to both pique and maintain student curiosity. Projects designed around standards that initiate interest and have multiple entry points…

This article describes an activity that introduces the Lithuanian holiday tradition of decorating with straw ornaments in geometric shapes. By building a Lithuanian sunburst star with straws, students explore a number of geometric relationships and reinforce their mathematical vocabulary. It also provides an excellent foundation for a…

Mathematics teachers can tap into students' curiosity about hurricanes to develop their understanding of mathematical ideas within a real-life context. This article discusses hurricane-based mathematics tasks involving cooperative learning that were found to help students enhance their understanding of patterns, graphs, and rates of change. For…

Given a 5-peg by 5-peg geoboard, how many different lengths can be made by stretching a rubber band to form an oblique segment between any two pegs? This investigation requires students to make connections to the Pythagorean theorem, congruence, and combinations. With its use of visual representation and a range of mathematical ideas that can be…

Finding real-world examples for middle school algebra classes can be difficult but not impossible. As we strive to accomplish teaching our students how to solve and graph equations, we neglect to teach the big ideas of algebra. One of those big ideas is functions. This article gives three examples of functions that are found in Arches National…

This article introduces and explains probability games from diverse cultures. Activities are described and teacher-ready materials are included.

This article addresses how metacognitive skills contribute to the teaching and learning of problem solving in mathematics. It describes the development and use of a metacognitive journal activity in the classroom. (Contains 2 figures.)

This reprinted article from the November 1976 issue of "Arithmetic Teacher" describes a series of calculator games suitable for all levels from kindergarten through calculus.