The authors describe the benefit of launching mathematics lessons in ways that engage young learners. Short, meaningful introductions can motivate and focus students. Some features of interesting launches are drawn from Ben Dixon's Foundation classroom.

Mathematical concepts have been a consensus goal for decades, yet there is little consensus on what is meant by the terms "mathematical concept" and "mathematical understanding." This article attempts to discuss these terms in a way that can be of practical use to teachers. Greater clarity on "mathematical concept"…

Discrete time models, one linear and one non-linear, are investigated, both with a herbivore species that consumes a basal food source species. Results are presented for coexistence of the species and to illustrate chaotic behaviour as parameters are varied in the non-linear model. The results indicate the benefit of fertilization in terms of the…

In this paper, we introduce a new interpretive framework, which we call Bodymarking, to aid in describing and interpreting activity (e.g., individuals' gestures, gaze, and interaction with materials in the environment) in the classroom. We apply the framework to video recordings of mathematics lessons to explain how it can be used and offer some…

Nicolas Senior shows how EMC3 's Launch-Explore-Summarise/Review model for mathematics lesson structuring sets the conditions to get the most out of both dialogic and direct instruction. He argues that this model will help teachers walk the balance between order and chaos.

Students at the elementary level should have opportunities to critique the world through mathematics and to see themselves as capable doers of mathematics. The lesson described in this article prompted students to consider how to use mathematics to organize an emergency evacuation. In this article, the authors show how small changes to a task…

This article outlines a series of lessons the author led to help students understand gerrymandering, which is the practice of drawing district boundaries to favor a particular group or party and which undermines the fairness of a representative democracy. These lessons were developed to capture student interest and engagement by linking…

Mathematics achievement is positively associated with coding in the classroom. By making mathematical relationships visible to students as they code, teachers leverage rich connections between block-based computer programming and mathematical sense making. In this article, the authors describe strategies for adapting a Code.org lesson integrating…

Being outdoors encourages content creativity, inclusion of new ideas and perspectives, student voice and agency, authentic contextualization, and connection to nature. In this article, the authors share why integrating mathematics and nature is beneficial for both students and teachers, provide an example of a middle-grades lesson taught outside,…

For students to develop adequate conceptual understanding about fractions, they require experiences that afford them opportunities to think flexibly about multiple interpretations of fractions. This article presents a sequence of lessons designed to offer such experiences for students in Years 3 and Year 4. The lessons adopt a challenging tasks…

Digital curricula can constrain teachers with ready-made instructional materials. The authors used Mathematics Teaching Practices (MTPs) to modify a digital curriculum to engage students in more thoughtful and meaningful lessons. In this article, the authors visit one of their third-grade classrooms, in which they used the prescriptive digital…

This Fast Five provides an overview of key evidence-based practices that should be considered as part of core mathematics instruction, as well as intervention settings to meet the needs of all students.

Research has shown that the ways in which teachers engage in professional development activities vary widely. identified three levels of teacher appropriation within professional development, with their inquiry stance indicative of teachers engaging in self-sustaining practices. In our project, we modified the demonstration lesson format so that…

Within a single internet search, thousands of results occur when looking for a lesson or mathematics activity. However, the results are not all of good quality. In this article, the authors present a mathematics lesson planning protocol (MLP[superscript 2]) to help process the search results and offer experiences of teachers using the protocol.…

This article aims to outline the important role of the summary phase within a mathematics instructional model and provide six strategies to support teachers to move beyond "share time." By drawing upon good teaching strategies during the summary phase, teachers can enhance the learning experience for themselves and for their students.…