Journal of the Mathematics Council of the Alberta Teachers’ Association
Volume 31 Issue 2, April 1993
Congratulations to the executive on another excellent mathematics conference in Medicine Hat on November 6 and 7, 1992. The Math Fare was a truly unique and most useful conference for any teachers seeking new and creative teaching ideas. Bravo to Diane Congdon and her associates on such an interesting and well-organized conference! We look forward to the 1993 Calgary meeting with equal enthusiasm.
The articles in this issue have been divided into three sections: Making Sense of Mathematics, Recreational Mathematics and Teaching Ideas. The first section includes three articles that deal with the attempts made by some students and teachers to make sense of their mathematical experiences. The article by Liedtke addresses the question of number sense and provides some interesting examples of discussion between teachers and students. In the second article, Hahn describes some of her first positive experiences involving the learning of mathematics, achieved through exploration in a Logo problem solving context. The third article, written by Fischer, provides some helpful advice to teachers for developing and maintaining a positive problem solving environment.
The second section Recreational Mathematics includes two interesting applications of mathematics. The first article, by Duncan and Litwiller, discusses the probabilities of particular number combinations in lotteries. In the second article, contributed by Lauber, the age-old technique of casting out nines is reexamined within the context of polynomial arithmetic. Both applications could encourage interesting discussions in the senior high classroom.
Teaching Ideas, the final section, includes two classroom-ready activities. The first activity, contributed by Neufeld, challenges students to apply their addition and subtraction skills to create a graphic. The second activity is a game that represents an application of several mathematical concepts (graphing, the four basic operations and simple probability) to the stock market context. The game is both challenging and fun, suitable for the junior high mathematics student.
As always, we are interested in receiving articles from all of our readers, but we are especially interested in hearing from Alberta educators. If you were one of the presenters in Medicine Hat, jot down your contribution and forward it to the Mathematics Council. Your ideas count, and someone is waiting to use them in his or her classroom!
Happy reading!
A. Craig Loewen
1 – 2
3
A. Craig Loewen
4 – 11
Making Sense Out of Number Sense
Werner Liedtke
12 – 13
Logowriter: The Real Story About the Tortoise and the Hare
Marilyn Hahn
14
Florence E. Fischer
15 – 17
Counting the Complement: The Probability of Consecutive Numbers in a Lotto Drawing
David R. Duncan and Bonnie H. Litwiller
18 – 22
Checking Polynomial Arithmetic Casting Out 9’s Reincarnated
Murray L. Lauber
23
Addition and Subtraction Puzzle
K. Allen Neufeld
24 – 28
Stocking Up in Mathematics: An Application
A. Craig Loewen
29
