This month's editorial discusses how JRME articles can benefit another audience, namely, mathematics education practitioners.

Piaget (1971) made a distinction between intuitive (preoperational) time and operational (logico-mathematical) time. When time is still intuitive, children base their judgments of age on what is observable (e.g., people’s height). With the aid of 11 pictures of an apple tree and a pear tree taken on 6 consecutive birthdays, 184 children in grades K–5 were individually asked, at a specific time, if two trees were the same age or if one was older than the other.

This Brief Report summarizes case studies of the classroom teaching practices of two algebra teachers. The data consist of videotaped classroom observations during one academic year. The study identifies and characterizes specific teaching practices that establish the norm that the teacher is the sole arbiter of mathematical correctness in the classroom.

Overall scale scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) indicate that there was only minimal improvement in the mathematics performance of high school students between 1978 and 2004. Using recently released data from the Long-Term Trend (LTT) NAEP, this study describes the content covered on the LTT NAEP and the performance of 17-year-old students on that content.

This article centers on studying the progress of algebraic syntax once students have surmounted initial obstacles found in the transition toward symbolic algebra. It specifically analyzes students’ progress concerning the operation on the unknown, when the latter is represented by an expression that involves a 2nd unknown.

. . . And All the Children Are Above Average: A Review of The End of Ignorance: Multiplying Our Human Potential The End of Ignorance: Multiplying Our Human Potential. John Mighton. (2007). Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf Canada. 320 pp. ISBN 978-0-676-97962-6 (hb) $29.95. Reviewed by David Kirshner, Louisiana State University

Modelling and Applications in Mathematics Education: The 14th ICMI Study. Werner Blum, Peter Galbraith, Hans-Wolfgang Henn, and Mogens Niss (Eds) (2007). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer, xiv + 521 pp. ISBN 0-387- 29820-7 (hb, with DVD) $149. Reviewed by John Dossey, Illinois State University