Zero To Lazy Eight

Did you ever wonder why a stitch in time saves nine and not, say, four, or why the number seven is considered the luckiest, or what number the word googol refers to? Well, the Humez brothers, along with Joseph Maguire, have answered all of these questions and more. In "Zero to Lazy Eight," they take us on a wacky and enlightening trip up the linguistic number scale from zero to thirteen and back by way of infinity, showing us just what numbers can tell us about our culture's past, present, and future. Whether it be numerical maxims, mathematical theory, or numeric etymology, there is something here for everyone.

Learning Journals in the K-8 Classroom is the first comprehensive presentation of how to use academic journals effectively for elementary-level instruction. The text outlines the theoretical foundations for using learning journals and provides step-by-step suggestions for implementing them in every content area and at all levels of elementary instruction. Learning journals provide resources and support for reading aloud, independent reading, mini-lessons, cooperative study, individual research, workshops, and the portfolio system. The type of interactive writing students do in learning journals helps them explore complex ideas in the content areas, using their own strengths of analysis and response; the journals then become resources for future learning, group discussions, individual conferences, learning assessment, reports, and progress. Four introductory chapters show teachers how to create their own journals, introduce journals to students, integrate them with cooperative study, and use them for assessment. Additional chapters focus on the individual curriculum areas of literature, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies. The text includes sample entries from student journals at all grade levels and in every content area, and appendices of annotated resources to support journaling and interviews with teachers who use journals in their classrooms.

Since the beginning of civilization, numbers have been more than just a way to keep count. Perfect Figures tells the stories of how each number came to be and what incredible associations and superstitions have been connected to them ever since. Along the way are some of the great oddities of numbers' past as: -a time when finger-counting was a sign of intelligence (the Venerable Bede could count to a million on his hands) -the medieval Algorists, who were burnt at the stake for their use of Arabic rather than Roman numerals -the Bank of England, which stubbornly kept accounts on notched wooden sticks until 1826 Filled with Crumpacker's eloquent wit and broad intelligence, Perfect Figures brings the history of numbers to life just as Bill Bryson did for the English language in The Mother Tongue.

Lists all the resources needed to create a balanced curriculum for homeschooling--from preschool to high school level.

User-Friendly Numbers in Math for Parents shares stories of students’ reasoning, thinking, and sometimes misunderstandings about numbers - stories that provide the opportunity to see math differently. Most of the students are visual-spatial, creative, daydreamers who may miss the details in math, a characteristic of visual-spatial learners. Through these stories, parents will see mathematics through their child’s eyes, both the clarity and the confusion. Armed with this new sight, and therefore insight, parents will be able to talk differently with their child about the number language of math. By seeing numbers through “new eyes,” children and parents can take control of the math language and therefore, the mathematics. This book focuses more on the “why” reasons behind math number relationships, explained in plain English and with images that show number relationships. By including more images and fewer formulas, readers – especially the visual spatial learners – have a better chance of understanding how number organizers apply to different number types. Recognizing connections among number formats significantly reduces the impatience, frustration, and heartache around homework.

The Basics of Computer Arithmetic Made Enjoyable and Accessible-with a Special Program Included for Hands-on Learning "The combination of this book and its associated virtual computer is fantastic! Experience over the last fifty years has shown me that there's only one way to truly understand how computers work; and that is to learn one computer and its instruction set-no matter how simple or primitive-from the ground up. Once you fully comprehend how that simple computer functions, you can easily extrapolate to more complex machines." -Fred Hudson, retired engineer/scientist "This book-along with the virtual DIY Calculator-is an incredibly useful teaching and learning tool. The interesting trivia nuggets keep you turning the pages to see what's next. Students will have so much fun reading the text and performing the labs that they won't even realize they are learning." -Michael Haghighi, Chairperson of the Business and Computer Information Systems Division, Calhoun Community College, Alabama "At last, a book that presents an innovative approach to the teaching of computer architecture. Written with authority and verve, witty, superbly illustrated, and enhanced with many laboratory exercises, this book is a must for students and teachers alike." -Dr. Albert Koelmans, Lecturer in Computer Engineering, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, and the 2003 recipient of the EASIT-Eng. Gold Award for Innovative Teaching in Computer Engineering Packed with nuggets of information and tidbits of trivia, How Computers Do Math provides an incredibly fun and interesting introduction to the way in which computers perform their magic in general and math in particular. The accompanying CD-ROM contains a virtual computer/calculator called the DIY Calculator, and the book's step-by-step interactive laboratories guide you in the creation of a simple program to run on your DIY Calculator. How Computers Do Math can be enjoyed by non-technical individuals; students of computer science, electronics engineering, and mathematics; and even practicing engineers. All of the illustrations and interactive laboratories featured in the book are provided on the CD-ROM for use by high school, college, and university educators as lecture notes and handouts. For online resources and more information please visit the author's website at www.DIYCalculator.com.

This book presents an approach to the teaching of mathematics that departs radically from conventional prescription-oriented and management-based methods. It brings together recent developments in such diverse fields as continental and pragmatist philosophy, enactivist thought, critical discourses, cognitive theory, evolution, ecology, and mathematics, and challenges the assumptions that permeate much of mathematics teaching. The discussion focuses on the language used to frame the role of the teacher and is developed around the commonsense distinctions drawn between thought and action, subject and object, individual and collective, fact and fiction, teacher and student, and classroom tasks and real life. The discussion also addresses the question of how mathematics teaching can be reformed to better suit current academic and social climates. Making use of the theoretical framework of enactivism, the book explores the subject through an account of a middle school teacher's appreciation and understanding of her role. Teaching mathematics, as both the report of this teacher's experience and the discussion make clear, demands an embracing of ambiguity, uncertainty, complexity, and moral responsibility. Courses for Adoption Education: Mathematics for Elementary Teachers, Methods for Teaching Elementary Schools, Methods for Teaching Secondary Schools, Curriculum Studies, Critical Pedagogy Special Features *Elucidates the importance and relationship between theory and practice. Employs reflective teaching techniques to focus students on their own learning, knowledge, and understanding of mathematics.Details a collaborative venture that traces the development of new thinking and insights about math teaching and learning. *A fine blending of theory with practice.

A must read for teachers of mathematics! The perrennial question, "When will I ever use this stuff," prompts a parent to look deeply into his son's math program. In his search for the scope and meaning of "stuff," he finds that the subject of math is totally unlike any other high school subject. Also apparent is that promoted reforms whether politically motivated, profit driven, or theoretically rooted in educational psychology, good or bad, generally have a poor long term success rate. The semi-fictional, often-humorous style of "Math Stuff" provides a multi-dimensional view of the diverse elements of reform that, to be effective, must be jointly addressed. Taking a cue from a good math teacher, the book does not give the answers but rather suggests what to think about while determining them.

Narrative forms of mental representation and their influence on comprehension, communication and judgment, have rapidly become one of the main foci of research and theory in not only psychology but also other disciplines, including linguistics, sociology, and anthropology. No one has been more responsible for the awakening of interest in this area than Roger Schank and Bob Abelson. In their target article, they argue that narrative forms of mental representation, or "stories," are the basic ingredients of social knowledge that play a fundamental role in the comprehension of information conveyed in a social context, the storage of this information in memory, and the later communication of it to others. After explicating the cognitive processes that underlie the construction of narratives and their use in comprehension, memory and communication, the chapter authors consider the influence of stories on a number of more specific phenomena, including political judgment, marital relations and memory distortions that underlie errors in eyewitness testimony. The provocativeness of the target chapter is matched by that of the companion articles, each of which not only provides an important commentary on Schank and Abelson's conceptualization, but also makes an important contribution to knowledge in its own right. The diversity of perspectives reflected in these articles, whose authors include researchers in linguistics, memory and comprehension, social inference, cognitive development, social judgment, close relationships, and social ecology, testifies to the breadth of theoretical and empirical issues to which the target chapter is potentially relevant. This volume is a timely and important contribution to research and theory not only in social cognition but in many other areas as well.