References to NCTM Journals

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) has two journals that are very helpful for those who are teaching elementary and middle school mathematics.  You will find the following journals in the UNCW library:

"Teaching Children Mathematics" is intended for elementary teachers.  (grades K-6)

"Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School" is obviously intended for middle school teachers. (grades 6-8)

Many articles in these journals are directly related to topics covered in Math 141 and 142.

Please see your textbook, page R1 (just after page 908) for a list of all articles used as references in the text.

The following list is a few of the articles we will refer to in Math 141 and 142.

The January 2003  (Volume 9, Number 5) issue of "Teaching Children Mathematics" has a variety of articles relevant to the topics in math 141-142.  For math 141 there is an article on page 243 on "The Chinese Numeration System and Place Value".  There is a series of "word problems" related to mathematics in different careers.  For math 142 there is an article on page 250 that involves teaching geometry through cultural quilting.  Pages 248-249 has a "Menu of Problems" including per cent, angles and volumes.

The September 2000 issue (Volume 6, Number 1) of "Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School" has an article on important pre-algebra concepts that are taught in grades 3-5 and 6-8.  "Some 'Big Ideas' of Algebra" is on pages 26-31.  The "big ideas" are the concepts of variable, function and properties of numbers.  This goes most directly with section 2.4 in our text but is also developed in other parts of the syllabus for MAT 141 and 142.

The February 2003 issue of "Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School" has an article on Problem Solving, Patterns, Probability, Pascal, and Panlindromes.  (See Volume 8, Number 6, February 2003 page 288.)

The March 2003 issue of "Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School" has two popular cartoons (and some questions that have been created by middle school teachers) that are related to teaching probability.  (See Volume 8, Number 7, March 2003 page 362.)  This same issue presents different approaches to understanding area on pages 356-358 and 363-368.

Geometry in math 142 is introduced in chapter 12.  There have been many studies done on how children learn geometry.  The April 2000 and May 2000 issues of "Teaching Children Mathematics" present the results of two such studies.  I will use examples from these journals in class and you will find it helpful if you read all of each article. (See Volume 6, Number 8 pages 482-8 and Volume 6, Number 9 pages 572-6.)

The March 2004 issue of "Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School" has an article on transformations.  The article uses E-example 6.4 on NCTM's Web site (http://standards.nctm.org/document/eexamples/chap6/6.4/part4.htm) to explore how eight-grade students think about the equivalency of transformations.  ( Volume 9, Number 7, March 2004, pages 392-397.)