Issue8

  • Vol. 9, No. 8, April 2004

    Features

    Lee Coester
    A classroom activity analyzes the mathematics found in Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World, the true story of Ernest Shackleton and the 27-man crew who all survived a shipwreck at the South Pole.
    David Johnston
    A middle-school project that challenged students to design scale models of three-dimensional blocks used in theater programs. Students applied skills such as measurement, proportionality, and spatial reasoning in a cooperative setting.
    Bill Engel; Diane Schmidt
    A lesson that uses a common household item for the exploration of functional relationships. The level of student engagement illustrates the effectiveness of inquiry-based instructional strategies
    Ron Preston; Tony Thompson
    The importance of measurement in providing a foundation for mathematical study and how measurement can be integrated with other mathematical strands within the mathematics classroom.

    Sandra Trowell; Anne Reynolds
    A set of real-world problem-solving tasks that may provide opportunities for students to make sense of proportional reasoning. Ideas for implementation in the math classroom are included.
    Elana Joram; Vicki Oleson
    A unit of instruction designed to promote a conceptual understanding of area in sixth-grade students. Students used benchmarks to estimate the areas of real houses and calculated the areas of houses based on building plans. Ideas for implementation are included in this article.
    William Stegemoller; Rebecca Stegemoller
    The path taken and the turns made as a turtle traces a polygon are examined to discover an important theorem in geometry. A unique tool, the Angle Adder, is implemented in the investigation. Teachers will learn how the project worked and how to implement it in their classrooms.

    Departments

    By Way of Introduction
    Barbara Cain; Jerry Bell
    Mathematics Detective
    Marion Walter
    Teacher to Teacher
    Penina Kamina; Patricia Tinto
    Families Ask
    Sherri Martinie
    Menu of Problems
    Sue Burns
    • Get full access to Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School