The COVID-19 pandemic has affected student learning; according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (2022), scores for students in the United States have shown a decline in mathematics. . One way educators can strengthen students' current mathematical knowledge and bridge to new content is through Number Talks. Number Talks are brief…

Rich mathematical modeling activities are crucial to giving students agency and making mathematics meaningful. Proportional reasoning and transitional algebraic reasoning are the primary topics in the prealgebra curriculum, so a need exists for meaningful modeling activities using proportional reasoning in addition to geometric modeling. In…

Differentiating instruction can be difficult, however, when higher performing students yearn to be stretched and lower performing students benefit from scaffolded support. One way to meet these students' learning needs and everyone in-between is to embrace the notion of novel exploration in support of critical school mathematics concepts. Novelty…

This article describes how a teacher in Mexico City worked with two researchers on an instructional design project to help kindergartners become proficient in participating in whole-class mathematical conversations.

In the mathematics classroom, making sense of story problems can be a challenge for all students. Strategies that promote student discourse offer teachers one way to support their students' sense-making processes. In this article, the authors present a mathematical discourse strategy that was introduced to elementary school teachers during Project…

How does classroom interaction support students' apprenticeship into the ways of speaking, writing, and diagramming that constitute the practice of mathematics? We address this problem through an interpretative analysis of a whole-group conversation about alternative ways of solving a problem involving percent discounts that occurred in a sixth…

Presents a classroom scenario in which a student concocts a unique solution to a standard circle exercise and the class attempts to verify if the solution works for all cases of the problem. (MKR)

Argues that the way in which students solve a particular problem can be analyzed to gain insight into how students think about the mathematics involved. Discusses the use of knowledge gained from listening to student conversations about their strategies to orchestrate classroom discussions. (ASK)

Presents an activity to involve students in mathematical communication and creative thinking. The activity is similar to the "pass it along" gossip game in which each person in a chain adds a piece of information. The class analyzes the resulting mathematics problem using George Polya's problem-solving techniques. (MKR)

Teachers often have difficulty responding to emotionally upset children in ways that help the students solve their problems. Examples of commonly used "put-downs and put-offs" and suggested techniques that teachers can use to lend emotional support are offered. (DF)

Proposes that the writing of proofs in geometry class can be a vehicle for attaining the goals of problem solving, reasoning, and communication in the mathematics classroom. Presents a student-teacher dialogue illustrating this process. (11 references) (MKR)

Suggests some questions and prompts that teachers can adapt and use to promote mathematical power in their students. Argues that asking children to share their strategies for solving problems is a simple but powerful learning tool for promoting understanding. Presents four classroom vignettes as an example. (ASK)

Uses ancient Egyptian numeration system in a new setting to extend the concepts of base, place value, and correspondence. Discusses similarities and differences between the Egyptian and decimal systems. Students are asked to propose changes to make the Egyptian system easier. (LDR)

The use of protocols--oral verbalizations of the problem solving process--in a critical thinking and problem solving class offers a number of advantages to students and teachers alike. Protocols help students (1) learn to read problems carefully; (2) focus on the important characteristics of specific problems; (3) slow down their problem-solving…

Examines the dynamic common to the English-as-a-Second-Language classroom in which the teacher takes from the student the burden of the next step in solving a problem, identifies four reasons this is inappropriate, looks at why teachers do it, and offers techniques for handling such situations. (MSE)