Development of geometric and measurement ideas

The separation of curriculum development, classroom teaching, and mathematics educational research from each other has vitiated each of these efforts. We are working on several related projects, the aim of which is to combine these efforts synergistically. The first 1 is a large-scale curriculum development project that emphasizes meaningful mathematical problems and depth rather than exposure. Our responsibility (and goal) in this project is to develop the geometry and spatial-sense units in this curriculum based on existing research on children’s learning of mathematics as well as our own classroom-based research on children’s learning within the context of formative evaluations of the curriculum. The second project2 has the related goal of conducting research on children’s learning of geometric and spatial concepts in computer and noncomputer environments.