This article models how to plan and facilitate implementing the same task in two sixth-grade classrooms with two different learning goals using the Five Practices structure.

Effective teaching requires enjoyable classroom tasks aimed at promoting students' learning of mathematics meaningfully, and previous research has demonstrated that the use of origami activities in mathematics classrooms can help achieve that goal. In this article, the authors describe their "LOVE MATH" one-straight-cut letter origami…

An escape room can be a great way for students to apply and practice mathematics they have learned. This article describes the development and implementation of a mathematical escape room with important principles to incorporate in escape rooms to help students persevere in problem solving.

Using their experience of working with the students as an example, the authors of this article aim to illustrate five student actions to which teachers can attend when implementing a social justice-oriented mathematical task. The example described is based on the work of 24 African American students in grades 6-8 who attended the authors'…

What is a teacher to do when students share an idea with underlying mathematics that is different from that of the student contribution being discussed? Could such situations be avoided to begin with? In this article, the authors share strategies that can help teachers better keep the mathematics related to the student contribution under…

As mathematical patterns become more complex, students' conditional reasoning skills need to be nurtured so that students continue to critique, construct, and persevere in making sense of these complexities. This article describes a mathematical task designed around the online version of the game Mastermind to safely foster conditional reasoning.

Dude Perfect has one of the most popular YouTube channels in the United States. The task in this article is one of several activities the author has integrated into mathematics lessons in ways that engage students and that are connected to Dude Perfect videos (Stohlmann 2019). The author describes how he planned and implemented purposeful…

Now in its fourth edition--with more than 50 new questions and a new chapter on financial literacy--this bestselling resource helps experienced and novice teachers effectively and efficiently differentiate mathematics instruction in K-grade 8. Math education expert Marian Small shows teachers how to get started and become expert at using two…

Ever try to captivate students with real-world applications only to discover that they live in a very different world? Assigning an Extreme Word Problem activity to students alleviates this dilemma by placing the authorship of a problem squarely into the hands of learners. Rather than trying to be hip and finding word problems that resonate with…

Open-ended mathematical tasks provide great opportunities for students to engage in authentic mathematical practices, such as conjecturing, generalizing, and justifying. Supporting students in open-ended tasks can be challenging. Appropriate scaffolding of a task has been linked to more opportunities for student learning and better student…

Mathematical models are conceptual processes that use mathematics to describe, explain, and/or predict the behaviour of complex systems. This article is written for teachers of mathematics in the junior secondary years (including out-of-field teachers of mathematics) who may be unfamiliar with mathematical modelling, to explain the steps involved…

This article discusses how teaching via problem solving helps enact the Mathematics Teaching Practices and supports students' learning and development of the Standards for Mathematical Practice. This approach involves selecting and implementing mathematical tasks that serve as vehicles for meeting the learning goals for the lesson. For the lesson…

By the time they reach middle school, all students have been taught to add fractions. However, not all have "learned" to add fractions. The common mistake in adding fractions is to report that a/b + c/d is equal to (a + c)/(b + d). It is certainly necessary to correct this mistake when a student makes it. However, this occasion also…

Empirical arguments rely on examples without necessarily addressing all cases. Students should be skeptical of empirical evidence and should seek more secure arguments for generalizations, such as those that explain why a generalization is true for all cases. Generalizing on the basis of patterns in data is an important mathematical practice;…

In recent years, the integration of science and mathematics has become popular among educators because of its potential benefits for student learning. The purpose of this study is to introduce a two-day interdisciplinary lesson that brings science and mathematics concepts together, actively engaging students in working with percentages of the…