Providing essential guidance and background information about teaching mathematics, this book is intended particularly for teachers who do not regard themselves as specialists in mathematics. It deals with issues of learning and teaching, including the delivery of content and the place of problems and investigations. Difficulties which pupils encounter in connection with language and symbols form important sections of the overall discussion of how to enhance learning. The curriculum is considered in brief under the headings of number, algebra, shape and space, and data handling, and special attention is paid to the topic approach and mathematics across the curriculum. The assessment of mathematical attainment is also dealt with thoroughly. Teachers will find this book an invaluable companion in their day-to-day teaching.

Our objective is to publish a book that lays out the theoretical constructs and research methodologies within mathematics education that have been developed by Paul Cobb and explains the process of their development. We propose to do so by including papers in which Cobb introduced new theoretical perspectives and methodologies into the literature, each preceded by a substantive accompanying introductory paper that explains the motivation/rationale for developing the new perspectives and/or methodologies and the processes through which they were developed, and Cobb’s own retrospective comments. In this way the book provides the reader with heretofore unpublished material that lays out in considerable detail the issues and problems that Cobb has confronted in his work, that, from his viewpoint, required theoretical and methodological shifts/advances and provides insight into how he has achieved the shifts/advances. The result will be a volume that, in addition to explaining Cobb’s contributions to the field of mathematics education, also provides the reader with insight into what is involved in developing an aggressive and evolving research program. When Cobb confronts problems and issues in his work that cannot be addressed using his existing theories and frameworks, he looks to other fields for theoretical inspiration. A critical feature of Cobb’s work is that in doing so, he consciously appropriates and adapts ideas from these other fields to the purpose of supporting processes of learning and teaching mathematics; He does not simply accept the goals or motives of those fields. As a result, Cobb reconceptualizes and reframes issues and concepts so that they result in new ways of investigating, exploring, and explaining phenomena that he encounters in the practical dimensions of his work, which include working in classrooms, with teachers, and with school systems. The effect is that the field of mathematics education is altered. Other researchers have found his "new ways of looking" useful to them. And they, in turn, adapt these ideas for their own use. The complexity of many of the ideas that Cobb has introduced into the field of mathematics education can lead to a multiplicity of interpretations by practitioners and by other researchers, based on their own experiential backgrounds. Therefore, by detailing the development of Cobb’s work, including the tensions involved in coming to grips with and reconciling apparently contrasting perspectives, the book will shed additional light on the processes of reconceptualization and thus help the reader to understand the reasons, mechanisms, and outcomes of researchers’ constant pursuit of new insights.

Results from national and international assessments indicate that school children in the United States are not learning mathematics well enough. Many students cannot correctly apply computational algorithms to solve problems. Their understanding and use of decimals and fractions are especially weak. Indeed, helping all children succeed in mathematics is an imperative national goal. However, for our youth to succeed, we need to change how we're teaching this discipline. Helping Children Learn Mathematics provides comprehensive and reliable information that will guide efforts to improve school mathematics from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. The authors explain the five strands of mathematical proficiency and discuss the major changes that need to be made in mathematics instruction, instructional materials, assessments, teacher education, and the broader educational system and answers some of the frequently asked questions when it comes to mathematics instruction. The book concludes by providing recommended actions for parents and caregivers, teachers, administrators, and policy makers, stressing the importance that everyone work together to ensure a mathematically literate society.

This expanded edition of the original bestseller, How to Teach Mathematics, offers hands-on guidance for teaching mathematics in the modern classroom setting. Twelve appendices have been added that are written by experts who have a wide range of opinions and viewpoints on the major teaching issues. Eschewing generalities, the award-winning author and teacher, Steven Krantz, addresses issues such as preparation, presentation, discipline, and grading. He also emphasizes specifics--from how to deal with students who beg for extra points on an exam to mastering blackboard technique to how to use applications effectively. No other contemporary book addresses the principles of good teaching in such a comprehensive and cogent manner. The broad appeal of this text makes it accessible to areas other than mathematics. The principles presented can apply to a variety of disciplines--from music to English to business. Lively and humorous, yet serious and sensible, this volume offers readers incisive information and practical applications.

Building Support for Scholarly Practices in Mathematics Methods is the product of collaborations among over 40 mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) who teach mathematics methods courses for prospective PreK?12 teachers in many different institutional contexts and structures. Each chapter unpacks ways in which MTEs use theoretical perspectives to inform their construction of goals, activities designed to address those goals, facilitation of activities, and ways in which MTEs make sense of experiences prospective teachers have as a result. The book is organized in seven sections that highlight how the theoretical perspective of the instructor impacts scholarly inquiry and practice. The final section provides insight as we look backward to reflect, and forward with excitement, moving with the strength of the variation we found in our stories and the feeling of solidarity that results in our understandings of purposes for and insight into teaching mathematics methods. This book can serve as a resource for MTEs as they discuss and construct scholarly practices and as they undertake scholarly inquiry as a means to systematically examine their practice.

The purpose of this handbook is to help launch institutional transformations in mathematics departments to improve student success. We report findings from the Student Engagement in Mathematics through an Institutional Network for Active Learning (SEMINAL) study. SEMINAL's purpose is to help change agents, those looking to (or currently attempting to) enact change within mathematics departments and beyond—trying to reform the instruction of their lower division mathematics courses in order to promote high achievement for all students. SEMINAL specifically studies the change mechanisms that allow postsecondary institutions to incorporate and sustain active learning in Precalculus to Calculus 2 learning environments. Out of the approximately 2.5 million students enrolled in collegiate mathematics courses each year, over 90% are enrolled in Precalculus to Calculus 2 courses. Forty-four percent of mathematics departments think active learning mathematics strategies are important for Precalculus to Calculus 2 courses, but only 15 percnt state that they are very successful at implementing them. Therefore, insights into the following research question will help with institutional transformations: What conditions, strategies, interventions and actions at the departmental and classroom levels contribute to the initiation, implementation, and institutional sustainability of active learning in the undergraduate calculus sequence (Precalculus to Calculus 2) across varied institutions?

This book presents a literature review of and a state-of-the-art glimpse into current research on affect-related aspects of teaching and learning in and beyond mathematics classrooms. Then, research presented at the MAVI 25 Conference, which took place in Intra (Italy) in June 2019, is grouped in thematic strands that capture cutting-edge issues related to affective components of learning and teaching mathematics. The concluding chapter summarises the main messages and sketches future directions for research on affect in mathematics education. The book is intended for researchers in mathematics education and especially graduate students and PhD candidates who are interested in emotions, attitudes, motivations, beliefs, needs and values in mathematics education.