This paper argues that critical mathematics education requires reflective knowledge, which lies outside of mathematical and technological knowledge, and which can be generated through philosophical inquiry in the classroom. Philosophical inquiry can provide "thinking tools" for questioning, challenging and critiquing implicit assumptions…

Every day, students collect, organize, and analyze data to make decisions. In this data-driven world, people need to assess how much trust they can place in summary statistics. The results of every survey and the safety of every drug that undergoes a clinical trial depend on the correct application of appropriate statistics. Recognizing the…

Research Findings: The present study involved using a questionnaire to investigate the mathematics teaching practices of 74 U.S. and 67 Chinese early childhood teachers. Quantitative and qualitative analyses yielded several key findings. First, U.S. teachers are less intentional in mathematics teaching than their Chinese counterparts.…

This paper presents a series of illustrative LEGO Mindstorms-based science and math activities, developed under an NSF GK-12 Fellows project, for elementary, middle, and high school grades. The activities, developed by engineering and science graduate Fellows in partnership with K-12 teachers, are grade appropriate, address pertinent learning…

"Progress in Mathematics[C] 2006" is a new core curriculum for students in kindergarten through grade 6. "Progress in Mathematics[C] 2006" differs substantively from "Progress in Mathematics[C] 2000" in both content and assessment material. "Progress in Mathematics[C] 2006" uses a sequence of systematic…

Partnerships, especially the Professional Development School (PDS) model, between institutions of higher education (IHE) and public schools (PS), have become, if not commonplace, a successful model for teacher education. PDS teacher education projects in which preservice teachers and higher education faculty participate in school-based instruction…

Background: Multiplication and division by fractions are among the most troublesome concepts in the elementary mathematics curriculum. Recent studies have shown that preservice elementary teachers in the United States do not have deep understandings of these concepts. Effective ways to improve preservice teachers' conceptual understanding of these…