Ethnic students will face the problem of "cultural discontinuities" when they learn school mathematics. "Cultural discontinuity" is the main obstacle when they learn school mathematics. Teachers should put up the bridge for introducing ethnic mathematical knowledge into school mathematics teaching. The concrete tactics are:…

While researchers have documented the promise of detracking reform, many teachers still find it difficult to teach students with a wide range of academic skills in one classroom. Through engaging classroom footage and powerful interviews with teachers, students, and administrators, this 80-minute DVD showcases best practices from successful…

What happens when the problem of inequitable access to mathematics is addressed by agape (pronounced agapa) or attending to the relationships students develop with mathematics? To respond to this question, this paper offers a description of the journey towards teaching mathematics as agape. First, I organized examples of equity pedagogy around the…

According to the U.S. Department of Education, 90% of the future jobs in the United States will require a college degree, and many of these jobs will be in the service industry (Spellings 2006). Service jobs that require people skills may be more difficult for adults with disabilities. Although many students with disabilities included in general…

This article outlines an extension exercise that is based on the elementary geometrical constructions in the National Curriculum. The challenge for students is to organise and execute an extended construction. The hidden, parallel agenda is proof, for the teacher's role is to convince students that they "must" succeed and that doing so is a…

Having decided to spend some time looking at one's understanding of numbers, the author was inspired by "Alex's Adventures in Numberland," by Alex Bellos to look at one's innate appreciation of number. Bellos quotes research studies suggesting that an individual's natural appreciation of numbers is more likely to be exponential rather…

This article reports on a qualitative study of six high school calculus students designed to build an understanding about the affect associated with graphing calculator use in independent situations. DeBellis and Goldin's (2006) framework for affect as a representational system was used as a lens through which to understand the ways in which…

This study addresses the measures chosen by students when selecting or constructing indices to properties of distributions of data. A series of individual teaching experiments were conducted to provide insight into the development of five 4th to 8th grade students' conceptualizations of distribution over the course of 8 weeks of instruction.…

This article describes a hands-on mathematics activity wherein students peel oranges to explore the surface area and volume of a sphere. This activity encourages students to make conjectures and hold mathematical discussions with both their peers and their teacher. Moreover, students develop formulas for the surface area and volume of a sphere…

When solving problems involving proportions, students may intuitively draw on strategies that connect to their understanding of fractions, decimals, and percents. These two statements--"Instruction in solving proportions should include methods that have a strong intuitive basis" and "Teachers should begin instruction with more intuitive…

This study examines the approaches displayed by pre-service mathematics teachers in their experiences of constructing mathematical modelling problems and the extent to which they perform the modelling process when solving the problems they construct. This case study was carried out with 35 pre-service teachers taking the Mathematical Modelling…

Frequently, in the US students' work with proofs is largely concentrated to the domain of high school geometry, thus providing students with a distorted image of what proof entails, which is at odds with the central role that proof plays in mathematics. Despite the centrality of proof in mathematics, there is a lack of studies addressing how to…

This study investigated the opportunity to learn (OTL) that is available to Grade 12 mathematics learners. Learner workbooks were analysed in terms of time on task, curriculum coverage, curriculum coherence, and cognitive demand. Based on these elements, experienced mathematics teachers judged the opportunity that the learners have to achieve more…

Background/Context: Teachers in urban schools are sometimes seen as a large part of the problem with such schools. They are often spoken of as not knowing the content they need to know to teach, and they are not seen as committed to excellence or to reform-minded teaching; therefore, they are not seen as a resource for school improvement.…

This study used the data set from the Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics to identify the profiles of opportunities to learn (OTL) regarding topics studied in teacher preparation programs by future secondary mathematics teachers from 15 participating countries. The topics of inquiry covered tertiary-level mathematics,…