The lesson described in this article was developed and taught by a team of mathematics educators and physical therapists, with the shared goal of broadening students' perception of how mathematics concepts are applied in the real world. This lesson gives students authentic experience with the Gait Speed Test as a physical therapist would…

How can we engage all primary school students in rich mathematical learning, support them to make connections, and develop their mathematical language and reasoning? In this article, we draw on one school's experience in considering an approach to mathematics instruction that could support teachers in addressing this question, specifically…

This article provides a task that can be used effectively for exploring arrays in middle and upper primary schools, and the notion of prime and composite numbers in particular. As students are engaging in these activities, teachers can encourage them to record their arrays both diagrammatically and as number sentences.

This is the third in a series of articles describing CODAP and where it might be used to address content in the "Australian Curriculum: Mathematics" v9.0 (ACARA, 2022). We've talked before about model-ling and about statistics; this time, we'll talk about exploring probability using CODAP. As before, we have also prepared online pages…

Tangrams are a traditional Chinese puzzle comprising seven pieces that fit together to make a square. The seven pieces include two large right angled isosceles triangles, one medium size right angled isosceles triangle, two small right angled isosceles triangles, a small parallelogram, and a small square. The literature shows tangrams have been…

The authors describe a lesson--"You Decide"--which challenges students but also provides opportunities for success for those who may struggle. They show how this lesson has been helpful for teachers in revealing some misconceptions that often exist in primary students' thinking. In this article, they share data on the apparent relative…

Number fact knowledge spans far beyond conventional automatic mastery practices involving rote learning. Having the ability to automatically recall number facts fluently does not mean students will have strong conceptual understanding. This article provides suggestions for how number fact thinking and fluency might be developed in primary…

The National Association for Gifted Children and The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics both call for problem posing. This article illustrates the strategies used during a series of three Three-Act Tasks to foster second grade students' abilities to problem pose. The students' problem posing improved across the three Three-Act Tasks and…

Even in math class, English learners can work on their oral language development. The math tasks described here, designed for K-3, illustrate how.

Area models are an important strategy for representing and solving multiplication problems under the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (NGA Center and CCSSO 2010). The hands-on task presented in this article, featuring differentiation and open-ended learning, sets up students to discover area models for themselves. Organized around…

Stories live within us and shape our identities. What opportunities do students have to share their stories during the learning of mathematics? How can storytelling enhance the development of mathematical identities? In this article, the author shares reasons for and examples of ways that storytelling in mathematics can support the development of…

This article will discuss how Maryland's Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) elementary school mathematics team helped teachers acquire the knowledge and skills to implement mathematics instruction and the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) 5 competencies concurrently, with the goal of addressing the social and…

We offer this synthesized framework as a tool to reveal mathematical activity in a non-formal makerspace. In particular, we connect research at different grain sizes to illustrate and explain how mathematics plays a crucial, if often implicit, role in this activity. We begin with describing the Approximate Number System and the Ratio-Processing…

In this paper, we build on a previously developed notion of 'learning as Making' to examine mathematics thinking and learning in a highly transformative and technological Making environment: one that involves a handheld 3D printing technology which enables 3D models to be created instantly via one's moving hand. In particular, we present two…

In this article, the author describes how to help develop students' conceptual understanding of fractions through the tactical card-based game Nearest to One. Nearest to One promotes number-sense based strategies for comparing fractions, such as benchmarking (e.g., Is the fraction greater or less than one-half?) and building to the next whole,…