Book Review

Abstract

Teaching Mathematics: A Sourcebook of Aids, Activities, and Strategies, by Max A. Sobel and Evan M.
Maletsky, 3rd edition, is hardly a new book, but the third edition differs considerably from its first edition
in the 1970s. This book is designed to be used both as a textbook in a methods course for secondary
teachers and also, as the subtitle indicates, as a sourcebook of ideas for teachers. After introductory
chapters, The Art of Teaching, Motivation of Mathematical Learning, and Motivating Problem-Solving
Instruction (based on the NCTM’s An Agenda for Action: Recommendations for School Mathematics of
the 1980s), the remaining chapters are organized by mathematical topics: “numerical concepts,” algebra,
geometry, and probability and statistics. A final chapter is devoted to Iteration and Fractal Activities.
This organization is reasonable, but the activities presented, interesting though they are, often stray from
it.