"Real students... Real teaching... Real learning!" Try it! This hands-on text takes an ACTIVE approach to teaching mathematics in grades K-8. Activities are embedded in each chapter for adult learners to complete to ensure that they are grasping the mathematics. Completing these activities provides future teachers with invaluable insight into how children think about and learn math, thereby equipping them with the skills to make sound instructional decisions. See it! Throughout the book and on the enclosed "Understanding Children's Mathematical Thinking" VideoWorkshop CD-ROM, we see coauthor Karen Bush Hoiberg in action. A presidential award-winning elementary teacher, Karen provides a multitude of practical applications and real-world examples to give preservice teachers insight into how children think mathematically. Teach it! The text is organized around four general themes within each major mathematical content area: thinking about the mathematics, learning theories, the role of the teacher, and making algebraic connections. By actually DOING mathematics while analyzing learning theory, novice or preservice teachers are able to connect chapter concepts to actual classroom teaching practices. ""Many methods books assume that their readers know very little about learning theory and proceed to either overwhelm their readers or trivialize the material through a superficial chapter. Sharp and Hoiberg integrate learning theory throughout their text and show how learning theory can be viewed through mathematics in real classrooms without becoming tedious or distracting."" --Chris Ohana, Western Washington University, Field Editor for the NSTA Journal of Science and Children ""College students planning to be elementary school teachers need a framework and examples that reflect contemporary notions about the teaching and learning of mathematics. Similarly, college methods professors need materials that challenge their students with respect to the mathematical content they are expected to teach and how they can encourage children's mathematical thinking. The needs of both may be met with Learning and Teaching K-8 Mathematics."" --Tom Romberg, University of Wisconsin-Madison ""Perhaps one of the most important aspects of the text is the continual reference to the classroom, seeing it not only in form of vignettes, but hearing it from the voice of a practicing teacher, and also the inclusion of excerpts of questioning techniques used by other practicing teachers. This constant reference to the classroom will help preservice teachers become much more reflective mathematics teachers."" --William Fisher, California State University, Chico