Claudia Zaslavsky

Presents games and other activities from different countries and cultures that teach a variety of basic mathematical concepts.

These 80-plus math activities and number games help kids to think critically about math instead of just memorizing rules. The emphasis is on the underlying relationships between numbers and the process of manipulating them. Kids get together and play games with odd and even numbers, prime and composite numbers, factors, divisors, and multiples of numbers, common, and decimal fractions. Children learn the history of numbers finger counting, number...

This fascinating study of mathematical thinking among sub-Saharan African peoples covers counting in words and in gestures; measuring time, distance, weight, and other quantities; manipulating money and keeping accounts; number systems; patterns in music, poetry, art, and architecture; and number magic and taboos. African games such as mankala and elaborate versions of tic-tac-toe show how complex this thinking can be. An invaluable resource for students,...

Discusses the meaning and mathematical possibilities of the number zero.