A Good Way to Begin!
Getting your work published in a department of the journal is sometimes
easier than writing a regular article, which goes through the blind
review process with referees. Department editors will help you revise
a manuscript if they see promise in the basic idea. This assistance
can be helpful, particularly for a beginning author. The departments
are briefly described below.
Activities
This section includes mathematical activities in a reproducible
format for use in classrooms. These activities may use paper-and-pencil
but may also include laboratory experiences, discovery activities,
technology, and model constructions.
A manuscript received for review is sent to the editor who decides
whether it is promising. If a manuscript seems promising, the editor
works with the author and then sends it for review to a group of readers.
These reviewers send their evaluations to the editor, who makes the
final decision for publication and either works directly with the author
in making any changes needed for publication, or makes the necessary
changes.
Manuscripts for Activities should be sent to the Reston office via http://mt.msubmit.net. See recent issues
of the journal for appropriate style and content.
Calendars
Calendar problems may be submitted by individuals or groups.
Guidelines for the problems follow. Credit will be given to individuals
or groups who provide the materials.
- Each calendar needs a variety of problems to appeal to a wide range
of students in grades 8-12. Topics from arithmetic, algebra, geometry,
number theory, statistics, discrete mathematics, probability and
logic are welcomed.
- If you want to submit an entire month's worth of problems, send
about thirty-five problems to allow for deletions because of similarity
with published problems. Less than a month’s worth of problems may
also be submitted.
- Be careful about the length of the problems -- they need to fit
into one square on the calendar. Some problems should have a small
figure or other visual aid. Final art will be prepared by NCTM. See
recent issues for examples.
- Include complete solutions for each problem.
- If you select or modify problems from published sources, then include
a complete reference (the name of the source, publisher, city, year
of publication, and page number).
Please do not include any author information on the problem pages.
A title page including authors or a cover letter is appropriate.
Submit five double-spaced copies of the problems and solutions to
the editors. See a recent issue of the journal for names and addresses.
Connecting Research to Teaching
This department presents information to help teachers understand students’ conceptions
or misconceptions of important ideas, consider various approaches to
teaching, and offer activities that probe students’ understanding.
Manuscripts up to ten pages in length may be submitted to Connecting
Research to Teaching via http://mt.msubmit.net. See recent issues
of the journal for appropriate style and content.
Delving Deeper
Delving Deeper focuses on mathematics content appealing to secondary
school teachers. It provides a forum that allows classroom teachers
to share their mathematics from their work with students, their classroom
investigations and products, and their other experiences. Submissions
that pose and solve a novel or interesting mathematics problem, expand
on connections between different mathematical topics, present a general
method for describing a mathematical notion or solving a class of problems,
elaborate on new insights into familiar secondary school mathematics,
or leave the reader with a mathematical idea to expand are encouraged.
Manuscripts for Delving Deeper should be submitted via http://mt.msubmit.net.
Mathematical Lens
Mathematical Lens uses photographs as a springboard for mathematical
inquiry. The goal of this department is to encourage readers to see
patterns and relationships that they can think about and extend in
a mathematically playful way.
Submissions for Mathematical Lens should be sent directly to the
editors. See recent issues of the journal for appropriate style and
content.
Media Clips
The section includes short items from the media that highlight interesting
uses or misuses of mathematics that are appropriate for classroom study.
Please provide accurate reference information for the clip that you
use.
Media Clips submissions may be sent directly to the editors; please
include the original clip. See a recent issue of the journal for names
and addresses.
Reader Reflections
Letters are published in response to articles as well as to offer
points of view on teaching and brief teaching tips unrelated to articles.
Mathematics itself is sometimes the subject of Reader Reflections letters.
All letters must be signed, but names will be withheld on request.
Letters should be brief but on occasion may be up to two double-spaced
pages. The Panel retains the right to edit as well as select letters.
The Reston office will determine whether edited letters need to be
sent to the author for review. Reactions to articles are sent to authors
for their comments.
Send two double-spaced copies of each letter to the Reston office.
Such letters will be acknowledged, but a publication decision is not
routinely sent to the author because of the volume of such letters.
Technology Tips
The section focuses on materials and activities that assist teachers
in using technology to enhance instruction, assessment, and the curriculum.
Emphasis is on short, classroom-tested tips, as opposed to full-length
manuscripts. The thrust of the section includes, but is not limited
to, calculators, computers, and video technology. The ideas explored
should be easily adaptable to a wide variety of classroom situations.
Submit three double-spaced copies of such tips directly to the department
editors. See recent issues of the journal for names and addresses as
well as for appropriate style and content.
