In this paper I analyze a problem solving event in a secondary mathematics classroom. As the event unfolds, the teachers, including me, understand the event as involving interactions that were not related to learning. By adopting an expansive view of learning, I advance a different interpretation, that the interactions tell a story of student…

This paper explores the affordances of mobile learning in developing frameworks for discourse analysis. Specifically, this paper examines the commognitive analysis of classroom discourses in virtual learning environments (VLEs) and how it resolves the challenges of discourse analysis in face-to-face (F2F) settings. With the ongoing social turn of…

This article examines three commonly used pedagogical methods, namely the Socratic method of inquiry, collaborative problem solving, and debate-based deliberation, establishing the relationship of each one of these methods with the strategic promotion of argumentative reasoning, as a commonplace objective and means of inquiry-based educational…

The mathematics education community values using student thinking to develop mathematical concepts, but the nuances of this practice are not clearly understood. The authors conceptualize an important group of instances in classroom lessons that occur at the intersection of student thinking, significant mathematics, and pedagogical…

In "A Framework for K-12 Science Education," the National Research Council frames inclusive science instruction as a collection of strategies for teachers to engage students. In this conceptual article, we reframe inclusive science instruction by examining the literature in science and multicultural education and describe five elements…

Recent mathematics education reform calls for efforts to create collaborative and student-centered environments, where students have opportunities to reason and construct their understanding as part of a community of learners. Mathematics instruction should provide students opportunities to engage in mathematical inquiry and meaning making through…

The work in the Comenius Network project Developing Quality in Mathematics Education II (DQME II) has a main focus on development and evaluation of modelling tasks. One reason is the gap between what mathematical modelling is and what is taught in mathematical classrooms. This article deals with one modelling task and focuses on how two teachers…

The perspective of situated learning offers a theoretical framework for understanding the dialectical relations between the social and the individual dimensions of classroom microculture. The purpose of this article is to show how sociomathematical norms constructed during whole-class discussions provide a reference for the elaboration of…

Teacher should strive to be more than the authority in the classroom identifying right versus wrong relating to problem solving. Identifying and emphasizing what aspects of an answer are mathematically correct improves students' confidence to tackle challenging problems and they view themselves as mathematical problem solvers.

It is often claimed that working and talking with partners while carrying out maths activities is beneficial to students' learning and the development of their mathematical understanding. However, observational research has shown that primary school children often do not work productively in group-based classroom activities, with the implication…

Difficulty in comprehending mathematical concepts is a consequence of the system of knowledge acquisition prevailing in schools, and more specifically, of the typical pattern of classroom interaction. In the common task-setting/task-solving pattern, the teacher divides the subject matter into segments. Students are involved interactively in…

A small-group method of teaching mathematical models and methods in a Scottish technological institute uses team teaching and emphasizes the student's role in peer evaluation and group problem solving. (MSE)

The purpose of this study was to describe how one primary teacher of poor and working class rural students promoted small-group dialogue about books and literary concepts. Specifically, we focused on how she guided the students from the beginning of a lesson in ways that later led to dialogue during a videotaped four-day lesson sequence. We…

Four naturalistic methods for assessing college student learning styles are discussed: direct observation of student behavior, in-depth interviews with students, analysis of self-directed learning projects, and analysis of the guiding metaphors used by students in describing the teaching-learning process. Each suggests ways teachers can adapt to…

Two articles point out the importance of students' collaboration in the computer lab. The first describes two students' use of the word processor to write a story collaboratively. The second analyzes the dialogue of two students playing a computer game, showing that such games help students become better at planning and decision making. (ARH)