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.

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 In this way the book provides the reader with heretofore unpublished material that lays out in considerable detail the issues and problems that Cobb has confronted in his work, that, from his viewpoint, required theoretical and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.

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.

"Mathematics teacher education includes the mathematics content teachers need to understand, the ways that pedagogical approaches are developed, the messages about the nature of mathematics teaching and learning, and the interface between tertiary preparation and school contexts. Scholars from Sweden, France, Malawi, Singapore, New Zealand, Brazil, the USA, and Canada provide insights for the mathematics education community's understanding of how teacher educators in different countries structure, develop, and implement their respective mathematics teacher education programs. Several themes emerged across the chapters including: varied approaches to developing culturally responsive pedagogies and/or Indigenous perspectives to ensure equity and diversity for all students; issues and challenges in fostering partnerships and collaborations among various stakeholders, with partnerships involving connections with mathematics classroom teachers, school districts, and/or mathematicians or mathematics departments; strategies for developing mathematics knowledge for teaching, providing insights into messages about what it means to learn mathematics in terms of content and pedagogy; and preparing teachers who have flexibility and resourcefulness. This book will be of interest to those responsible for higher education, including teacher educators, researchers in mathematics teacher education, instructors of graduate courses preparing future teacher educators, as well as policy makers"--

An innovative contribution to educational research is to be found in this book. The book addresses the need to generate texts that assist educators and future educators in taking up new research and making sense of it. It offers unique approaches to interpreting research within the mathematics education field and takes its place in a growing set of resources. The book will appeal to teacher educators, student teachers, and mathematics education researchers alike.