Understanding the Equal Sign
Researchers have found that students in the United States often view the equal sign as a “do something” signal. What …
Yearly Archives: 2012
Borrowing vs. Decomposing
Here’s a great example of how language can affect conceptual understanding. The following is from a third grade teacher in China, quoted in Liping …
Problem of the Week 11/19/2012
Debs baked a total of 144 chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter treats. Initially the ratio of chocolate chip cookies …
Math Exchanges: A good read!
Click here to preview Kassia Omohundro Wedekind’s book Math Exchanges: Guiding Young Mathematicians in Small-Group Meetings. It is full of …
Problem of the Week 11/12/2012
A teacher needs to purchase jellybeans to use as manipulatives for a math activity in his class. A store offers two …
Do you always divide the larger number by the smaller number?
A common misconception among students is that, when dividing, you always put the larger number first. When this concept “sticks”, …
Managing Middle School Classrooms
Click here for great advice from the Association for Middle Level Education.
Common Core Math: From Standards to Instruction
Click here to see the slides from a great ASCD webinar that explain how to design units of instruction by examining …
Fives and tens, adding and subtracting
Here are some great activities from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics that you can use at individual computer …
Rational Numbers in Middle School Math
Middle school students should be developing a sound grasp of rational number concepts. They often need support when their whole …
The Math SPOT 