The mean can be interpreted as a fair-share value and as a balance point. Standards documents, including Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) (CCSSI 2010), suggest focusing on both interpretations. In this article, the authors propose a sequence of five activities to help students develop these understandings of the mean, and they…

"I liked to grab things on the graphics and see it first hand, see what we were doing on the problem. It makes more sense." These words were from a student who completed a series of lessons on lines of best fit. She made this comment after comparing a hands-on approach using a strand of spaghetti with a high-tech approach using a calculator. To…

More than forty years ago, Jerome Bruner developed a theory about the use of physical models or manipulatives when teaching math. He argued that students would learn mathematics better if they fist encountered concepts and procedures by actively modeling them with manipulatives. In this article, the author describes: (1) some of the unexpected…