Mathematics Teaching 218 - May 2010

Editorial - Margaret Jones

I can still fold a strip of paper so that it is in n sections where n is odd.

A Lakatosian encounter - Helen Chick

I wondered what would happen if Lakatos's class encountered the game, and what reasoning might arise in this rather different area of mathematics.

Excel spreadsheet file to accompany this article

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RISP: Building log equations - Jonny Griffiths

For each equation, say if it is always true, sometimes true or never true. Try this for yourself and then go to page 28 for the solution.

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Bringing definitions into high definition - John Mason

Why do definitions play such a central role in mathematics? It may seem obvious that precision about the terms you use is necessary in order to use those terms reasonably.

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Telling stories - IMP delegates

Telling stories is shorthand for the place of narrative in teaching and learning mathematics by delegates of the IMP.

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Euler's theorem under the microscope - Geoff Tennant

Proof is, of course, back on the school curriculum. The issues raised by examining Lakatos's work give some useful pointers in how this may be approached.

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Are they learning their tables? - Ian Sugarman

Ian Sugarman tells us of a piece of software he has developed to help improve pupil's recall of table facts.

Key understandings in school mathematics: 1 - Anne Watson

Students' original ideas about number come from the actions involved in dealing with objects, quantities and comparisons.

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Auditory learning - George Hardy

My experience has been catching myself overlooking the use of auditory skills in favour of more immediate visual and kinæsthetic ones.

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Let's plant trees! - Alzia Stein-Barana, Deisy Munhoz and Suzana Kaori Ura

The grove-planting math puzzle can be explored in several different combinations and difficulty levels.

Learning in mute - Hannah Golamgouse-Toraub

It is urgent that educators reach a better understanding of why these students are underperforming, so that they can make conscious efforts to change the situation.

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RISP: Log equations solution - Jonny Griffiths

This is a tough but rewarding risp that can be used to revise logs and their properties.

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News from the web - Stefanie Burke

The Gaps and Misconceptions Tool provides strategies for working with children who find learning about subtraction, division, or fractions and decimals difficult and when you struggle to think of yet another way to explain these concepts.

Be patient with the totient - Martin Griffiths

I am always looking for ways in which we might create opportunities for our students to see the beautiful structural properties possessed by the integers.

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Let's teach geometry - María Canadas, Marta Molina, Sandra Gallardo, Manuel Martínez-Santaoalla and María Penas

In this activity for High School students, the authors teach the mathematical concepts of plane and spatial geometry. The final objective of the task is to construct a cube using modular origami.

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Mathematical resilience - Sue Johnston-Wilder and Clare Lee

The construct we have called 'mathematical resilience' is important if we are to educate pupils to use mathematics as opposed to simply pass examinations.

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There is more to mathematics than symbols - Ferdinand Rivera

"Something clicked in my head right this minute when we did that. I like factoring and it's nice to know why it makes sense like that."

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News from ATM - Peter Lacey

The possibility of ATM offering a professional home to those teachers released from the shackles of that centralised control is real. To make this happen we as members need to reaffirm our guiding principles and be prepared to play our part in sustaining ATM as a community.