Data are abundant, quantitative information about the state of society and the wider world is around us more than ever. Paradoxically, recent trends in the public discourse point towards a post-factual world that seems content to ignore or misrepresent empirical evidence. As statistics educators we are challenged to promote understanding of…

The three target articles presented in this special issue converged on an emerging theme: the importance of spatial proportional reasoning. They suggest that the ability to map between symbolic fractions (like 1/5) and nonsymbolic, spatial representations of their sizes or "magnitudes" may be especially important for building robust…

Computer scientists are working on reproducing all human skills using artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics. Unsurprisingly then, many people worry that these advances will dramatically change work skills in the years ahead and perhaps leave many workers unemployable. This report develops a new approach to understanding these…

Public discourse concerning STEM has an increasing influence on mathematics education, yet the exact role that mathematics plays in STEM is hard to define. I compare STEM to numeracy to investigate how mathematics is repositioned in these two discourses. Each is analysed in terms of rhetorics that argue for the worth of mathematics education.…

Many children and adults have difficulty gaining a comprehensive understanding of rational numbers. Although fractions are taught before decimals and percentages in many countries, including the USA, a number of researchers have argued that decimals are easier to learn than fractions and therefore teaching them first might mitigate children's…

Patient safety is a priority in healthcare today. Good clinician numeracy in doctors contributes to patient safety, since it is essential for accuracy in prescribing, and in data interpretation. Evidence, however, suggests that although doctors are assumed to be highly numerate, they often make errors in drug dose calculation and struggle to…

This research synthesizes studies that used a Digitalized Interactive Component (DIC) to assess K-12 student mathematics performance during Computer-based-Assessments (CBAs) in mathematics. A systematic search identified ten studies that categorized existing DICs according to the tools that provided language assistance to students and tools that…

The current quantitative study, a naturalistic field experiment, was conducted in a public primary school in Soweto, Johannesburg, with the objective to examine how children's achievement on four assessments at the beginning of Grade R, namely their numeracy, their mathematics-specific vocabulary, their executive functions, and their logical…

This article examines the functionality of literacy and numeracy in Addis Ababa city administration. Case study research design was employed and data were collected from 8 actual teachers via interview. Besides, classroom observation and content analysis were employed. The finding revealed that on average 65 (59.88%) of mathematics students'…

School closures induced by COVID-19 placed heightened emphasis on alternative ways to measure student learning besides in-person exams. We leverage the administration of phone-based assessments (PBAs) measuring numeracy and literacy for primary school children in Kenya, along with in-person standardized tests administered to the same students…

Research Findings: Teachers and parents often use trade books to introduce or reinforce mathematics concepts. To date, an analysis of the early numeracy content of trade books has not been conducted. Consequently, this study evaluated the properties of numbers and counting within trade books. We coded 160 trade books targeted at establishing early…

Mathematical literacy includes learning to read and write different types of mathematical texts as part of purposeful mathematical meaning making. Thus in this article, we describe how learning to read and write mathematical texts (proof text, algorithmic text, algebraic/symbolic text, and visual text) supports the development of students'…

In order to solve word problems, students need to be able not just to read the words but comprehend what they mean. Paul Swan discusses three tiers of vocabulary that need to be included in the pedagogy of mathematics lessons and strategies for classroom practice.

This paper focuses on the development of the academic and personal literacy and numeracy skills of pre-service teachers. It examines how an embedded enhancement framework of literacy and numeracy support named the DEER (Developing, Embedding, Extending, Reflecting) framework by the researchers was created in initial teacher education (ITE)…

Multiplicative reasoning is a key concept in elementary school mathematics. Item statistics reported by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessment provide the best current indicator for how well elementary students across the U.S. understand this, and other concepts. However, beyond expert reviews and statistical analysis,…