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…

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…

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…

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.

The purpose of this paper is to integrate mathematical modeling and ecology by presenting an activity involving an authentic environmental problem, which is called "Pine Processionary Caterpillars Invasion." Adopting Mathematical Modeling and Education for Climate Action (EfCA) approaches, it was aimed to encourage pre-service teachers…

The motivation behind this examination is to present the theoretical structure of Modeling Activities, which is believed to be a vital device for mathematics instruction. Modeling activities are defined as activities to figure out complex problems faced in real life situations that require the creation of a mathematical model as a product. In…

Whole-class discussion of open mathematics tasks is an instructional practice K-12 mathematics educators report has the potential to engage all learners. Because this practice has not been extensively and systematically researched, this study aims to describe and analyze the engagement and experience of learners in open mathematics tasks. Drawing…

We investigate the beliefs that influence middle and high school algebra teachers' appraisals of contextual problems having diverse mathematical and pedagogical features. We asked six teachers to analyze six contextual algebra tasks and indicate how they would apportion instructional time among the six tasks based on their structure, pedagogical…

This article explores a conceptual relationship between learner choice and mathematical sense-making. It argues that when learners can exercise choice in their mathematical activities, mathematical sense-making can be enhanced. The literature around mathematical modelling suggests a link between sense-making and learner choice. A three-tiered…

Ever try to captivate students with real-world applications only to discover that they live in a very different world? Assigning an Extreme Word Problem activity to students alleviates this dilemma by placing the authorship of a problem squarely into the hands of learners. Rather than trying to be hip and finding word problems that resonate with…

Two major challenges in mathematics teacher education are developing teacher understanding of: (1) culturally responsive, social justice--oriented mathematics pedagogies; and (2) mathematical modeling as a content and practice standard of mathematics. Although these challenges may seem disparate, the innovation described in this article is…

Embedding mathematics in a relatable context has changed the way Christie Henderson's elementary students view the subject. In this article, Henderson discusses how presenting mathematics through a relatable context enables students to visualize the math and make a pictorial representation to aid them in solving it. When relevant and relatable…

An exploratory study was conducted to investigate the use of magic activities in a math course for prospective middle-school math teachers. This research report focuses on a lesson using two versions of math magic: (1) the "5-4-3-2-1-½ Magic" involves having students choose a secret number and apply six arithmetic operations in sequence…

If teachers have a deeper comprehension of their students' reading ability, it may lead to students' improved literacy and understanding of the subject. The account presented in this article of the author's growing interest in mathematical literacy specifically involves mathematical reading. This shift in interest began with a six-week…

Introducing challenging tasks in such a way that makes them accessible, rather than daunting, to students is a challenge for teachers. Solving challenging tasks involves students having to grapple with the problem. The role of the teacher is to motivate and clarify the problem rather than showing students how to solve the problem.