If you want to encourage your middle school students to” be the best they can be,” here are two competitions for you to consider.  Both are national and aimed at promoting high achievement through regular math meetings.  At least one person on staff will have to head the program, teach the high standard mathematics required […]

Do your middle school students not complete reading assignments or not comprehend them when they do? Is student motivation an issue you struggle with? Do you feel that your students need assistance comprehending the textbook?
We’ve got two new Explore in Depth resource guides that will help - Reading and Writing Mathematics and Reading Comprehension Strategies […]

Do your middle school students not complete reading assignments or not comprehend them when they do? Is student motivation an issue you struggle with? Do you feel that your students need assistance comprehending the textbook?
Our newest Explore In Depth publication, Reading Comprehension in Science, is now available. We’ve done our best to provide you with helpful […]

Reading the math textbook or handouts or extended response problems presents built-in challenges. The vocabulary of mathematics can be confusing, with some words meaning one thing in a mathematical context and another in everyday settings. Symbols can look alike, and different symbols can represent the same operation (for example, *, x, and • for multiplication). […]

Computer technology as an instructional tool for the teaching of mathematics offers unique “hands-on” environments in which abstract concepts can be explored. These environments enable active engagement by students, an experimental approach to math concepts, and an avenue to understanding abstract ideas not readily accessible through other mediums. Virtual manipulatives are the key. In animated […]

This article was written by middle school science teacher Todd Williamson and originally published in the December 2008 Integrating Technology column of Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears, an online magazine for elementary teachers. All versions of this article are licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Over the past several years, many schools have purchased interactive whiteboards […]

This article was written by middle school science teacher Todd Williamson for the Integrating Technology column of Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears, an online magazine for elementary teachers. All versions of this article are licensed under a Creative Commons License.
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If you’ve used a search engine like Google or Yahoo anytime in the past two years […]

This article first appeared in Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears online magazine August 1, 2008. The article has been modified to include middle school math and science examples. All versions of this article are licensed under a Creative Commons License.
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Over the last few years, blogs have evolved into an exciting web-based publishing tool for individuals […]

This article first appeared in Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears online magazine June 1, 2008. The article has been modified to include middle school math and science examples. All versions of this article are licensed under a Creative Commons License.
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Have you ever wondered how you could get your own web site on the Internet, how […]

Problem solving, one of the NCTM Process Standards, is critical to learning mathematics. Students may feel confident with computation, measurement, and statistics, but they can feel completely lost when asked to apply those skills to a word problem. How to start? What to do next? This page offers an introduction to problem-solving strategies, followed by […]