Mathematics teachers, are always making and remaking their curricula to better serve the needs of their students. Sometimes, these revisions happen while they are teaching a new task. At other times, as they grow in their thinking, they become aware that some of the tasks they've used for years--and might even name as favorites for their potential…

This paper attempts to deepen our understanding of teachers' selection and modification of mathematical tasks for their classroom instruction. In this paper, we focus on teachers' orientations and resources that subtly influence teachers' choices during their routine undertaking of task selection and modification. Interviews using stimulus…

The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the thoughts of primary and secondary prospective mathematics teachers about educating mathematically gifted students. For this purpose, this research was conducted with 40 prospective mathematics teachers, 17 of whom were secondary mathematics prospective teachers, and 23 were primary mathematics…

Research indicates that investigating phenomena, rather than reproducing facts, should be a core experience in the education of prospective mathematics teachers. Corresponding with its centrality to quality teacher education, there are multiple existing methodologies for analyzing the effects of investigation tasks on teachers' mathematical…

When it comes to choosing tasks, values can have a significant impact. This study explores teachers' values as they choose one task from among three that they believe will have the most potential to occasion mathematical creativity in the classroom. Participants' analyses of each task, as well as their reasons for choosing one task as most…

This study examines a Technology, Pedagogy, Content Knowledge (TPACK) training framework for pre- and in-service mathematics teachers that enables them to experience inquiry-based learning as learners in a dynamic geometry environment that serves as a mathematics laboratory. We investigate the effect of this experience on the teachers' TPACK,…

In this article, the authors present a task that promotes mathematical creativity. The task focuses on defining new geometric concepts, whilst providing students with creative thinking opportunities. They discuss prospective mathematics teachers' experiences while conducting a geometric definition task. Prospective mathematics teachers who…

This study addresses the need to better describe instructional strategies used by middle grades mathematics teachers. After coding 177 videos of grades 6-8 mathematics instruction for indications of effective instructional practices, we further analyzed 8 of the highly scored videos with specific attention to teachers' implementation of strategies…

One of the topics within the course of Essential Concepts in School Mathematics (ECSM) for prospective mathematics teachers concerns maximum and minimum problems. This type of problems requires mathematization, i.e., the activity of transforming a problem into a symbolic mathematics problem and of reorganizing within the mathematical system, in…

This study examined opportunities provided for preservice secondary mathematics teachers (PSMTs) to learn reasoning and proof in algebra from the perspective of college instructors. We analyzed interview transcripts of 15 course instructors recruited from three teacher education programs in the United States. We examined the reported opportunities…

In studies over recent years, there has been an increasing interest in teachers' predicting middle school students' thinking processes. However, as far as we are aware, there are no studies examining students' thinking in terms of mathematical thinking components. This study primarily aimed to determine the mathematical thinking of middle school…

Professional noticing of children's mathematical thinking (Jacobs et al. in J Res Math Educ 41(2):169-202, 2010) is a construct that is used frequently to understand the ways in which teachers attend to, interpret, and respond to children's mathematical thinking. In this paper, we present our analysis of prospective elementary mathematics…

This paper presents Big Ideas of Measurement as a framework of students' thinking about measurement. Drawing from research-based evidence, the framework is a collection of key concepts that students must develop for a robust understanding of measurement and, as such, are key aspects of students' thinking teachers should learn to notice. In a case…

Educators need collaborative opportunities to renew their love of learning, not just to review data and rework lessons. Researcher Ian Parker Renga and coauthors examine the power of Math Teachers' Circles--a group of educators that get together to play math games and solve problems just for the joy of it.

This practitioner article describes a lesson carried out in a high school classroom at the conclusion of a unit on exponential growth. Two teachers use a series of music-related activities to engage students in using and connecting multiple representations of exponential growth while exploring musical frequencies on a piano.