The purpose of this qualitative case study was to describe the strategies teachers chose to successfully differentiate for high achieving upper elementary mathematics students. The context of the study was mixed ability classes in international schools. The study used Vygotsky's sociocultural learning theory as a theoretical framework to…

This article offers one teacher's thoughts about how the experience of having to teach students who had been labelled and grouped by 'ability' unsettled her practice. Such 'ability' thinking runs counter to her beliefs as a teacher. The article sheds light on ways in which practice can be re-fashioned in the light of principles associated with…

In this article, we describe the case of "Keri," a fifth-grade teacher who had completed an Elementary Mathematics Specialist (EMS) certification program. Drawn from a larger study investigating the knowledge, beliefs, and practices of EMSs, Keri's case was unique in that she was teaching mathematics to four classes in a departmentalized…

This article discusses the pedagogic practice of ability grouping in government schools in Delhi. Despite practical evidence against homogenous student settings, ability grouping is implemented as a policy solution to reduce the huge variance in students' learning levels within a classroom. Research data is drawn from interviews with 110…

Background: South Africa is a country with a reading crisis: 81% of Grade 4 learners are unable to read for meaning in Grade 4. Teaching methods and practices have been identified as a primary cause; there is an over-reliance on choral methods, very little focus on meaning, weak feedback and assessment, and little interaction with books. Aim: This…

Educational opportunity is unequally distributed in the United States, most notably by race and economic status. Commonly practiced in K-12 schools across the country, tracking and ability grouping serve to exacerbate those existing inequities. Recent renewed activism for racial and economic justice, coupled with concerns over learning loss due to…

Students' critical thinking is often researched using quantitative tests designed to measure critical thinking. In contrast, this study qualitatively analyses group and whole-class dialogues in an interdisciplinary SSI project by focusing on students' critical thinking practices. As such, the study provides an in-depth example of an immersion…

In the continual pursuit of classroom learning effectiveness, researchers and educators aim to develop strategies that improve student performance and learning. One such strategy is to create academically homogeneous environments where students are grouped into classes based on their preconceived academic ability. The research team tests this…

Facilitating a more responsive style of teaching in primary mathematics has implications for not only teaching practice, but also for how we plan for our learners. Grouping decisions, task selection and teacher confidence in mathematical content are important considerations when developing inquiring mathematical communities. This article…

With the rise of accountability policies since the early nineties, the daily operation of English schools has profoundly changed. Through the in-depth analysis of ability grouping practices in one English secondary school, this paper aims to explore how the accountability shift and datafication impacted the practice of student grouping and…

Graphs are often used to represent mathematical functions, to illustrate data from social and natural sciences, or to specify scientific theories. With increasing emphasis on the development of scientific research skills, the work with graphs and data interpretation are gaining in importance. The research involved an eye-tracking experiment…

In the educational literature on peer effects, attention has been brought to the fact that the mechanisms creating peer effects are still to a large extent hidden in obscurity. The hypothesis in the study reported in this article was that the Frame Factor Theory (FFT) can be used to reveal such mechanisms. Using data from the Swedish TIMSS 2015 (N…

School-based learning experiences are often designed with the "typical" student in mind. However, this may not be an optimal approach, given the variability of prior learning that exists in most classrooms. We investigated the variance in achievement within U.S. fourth- and eighth-grade mathematics classrooms using Trends in…

In order for teachers to support students' mathematical thinking, Battista (2004) believed they must identify core mathematical concepts, recognize conceptual frameworks for understanding children's thinking, and use appropriate assessment tasks. In his view, learning trajectories provide teachers with information on children's cognitive abilities…

The study investigated the reported regressive performances of students in spatial reasoning concepts with a view to promote early spatial reasoning of lower primary school pupils across ability levels and sex. Non-equivalent experimental research design was employed. A hundred and five (105) pupils in four intact classes were exposed to six weeks…