This book describes and develops an innovative program of teaching arithmetic in the early elementary grades. The educational strategies employed are based on Jean Piaget's constructivist scientific ideas of how children develop logico-mathematical thinking. The book is written in collaboration with a classroom teacher and premised on the conviction that children are capable of much more than teachers and parents generally realize. It provides a theoretical foundation and an explanation of educational goals and objectives. The book also contains practical suggestions and developmentally appropriate activities that can be used to stimulate numerical thinking among students of varying abilities and learning styles inside and outside of the classroom. (MM)