This report is the first in a series of reports on teaching and learning in Foundation-supported schools. This report takes a careful look at instruction and students' academic work. In a subset of reforming schools, it examines whether students are exposed to challenging learning opportunities and whether challenging learning opportunities open…

Preservice teachers do not feel prepared to teach mathematics using technology (Smith & Shotsberger, 2001). To address this issue, we have developed a tool-based categorization of mathematics software and used it to instruct preservice teachers. Changes in thinking that occurred as a result of the course are analyzed primarily using repertory grid…

This case study documents the pedagogical changes an inner city, secondary school math teacher made as she attempted to help her students learn to use their minds well. Data were gathered in the 1989-90 school year. The report includes the teacher's description of her past teaching practices, notes how she began to change, describes the inner city…

The paper commences by reviewing some of the issues currently being raised with respect to the use of technology in undergraduate mathematics teaching and learning. Selected material from three research projects is used to address a series of questions. The questions relate to the use of symbolic manipulators in tertiary mathematics, to…

This book contains a collection of fraction lessons that support curriculum and instruction. The goals of the lessons are to give all students the chance to: (1) extend their understanding of the place value system to include decimals; (2) learn how decimals relate to fractions; (3) represent, read, and interpret decimal numerals; (4) compare…

This book describes the concept of mastery learning in the classroom and the various foundations upon which it is built. Five chapters discuss: (1) "Understanding Mastery Learning" (e.g., the learning/memory base, the measurement base, theoretical bases, and the brain base); (2) "Examining the Standards: Math, Science, Social Studies, and English…

The "PLATO[R] Math Expeditions" and "PLATO[R] Projects for the Real World" curricula are designed to implement effective, research-based instructional practices. "Math Expeditions" is designed to give elementary grade users the mathematics skills and practice needed to solve real-life problems. Across the eight…

Directed to teachers, paraprofessionals, parents, and others interested in giving a young child an early start on the 3 Rs, this book provides easy-to-follow instructions for promoting emergent literacy and for teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic from preschool into the primary grades. The progression of content extends from early…

Since the advent of reform in mathematics education, writing in mathematics courses has taken on an increasingly important role. This paper discusses what one teacher has done over time to incorporate writing into calculus classes and how the techniques employed have evolved over time. The focus is on journal writing, extended exercises, and…

This report discusses the outcomes of a project that investigated whether the Multiple Intelligences (MI) model could be used to address specific problems in learning in special population classrooms. Dyads were created in which two students were paired together who displayed opposite strengths and weaknesses on the eight independent multiple…

This pilot study examines the influence of a diagnostic and post-test format as a continuous diagnostic tool to help one cohort of elementary preservice teachers address their mathematics content area deficiencies in a proactive way. Fifty-four percent of the preservice teachers in the cohort were persons of color, and 96 percent were female. The…

The mathematical growth of a pre-service elementary teacher over the period of a semester is detailed. This student had an unusual combination of very poor basic computational skills and a capacity for higher level problem solving involving algebraic notation. The extent to which one or two semesters of mathematics content, however…

In this paper I will explore three contrasting teaching and learning environments, including one in which students engage in a "dance of agency". I will move from a consideration of classroom practices to a contention that our work as researchers of mathematics education should pay more attention to teaching practices. Further, that understanding…

This paper addresses issues of identity among trainee teachers as they progress through college in to their first year of teaching mathematics in primary schools. We examine how we might conceive of the trainees confronting mathematics in the context of government policy instruments. We suggest that teacher identity be produced at the intersection…

Teaching mathematics in a multicultural scholastic context is a current research theme in countries where the phenomenon of immigration is becoming important. There is a project being carried out in some southern European countries which aims to identify the needs of maths teachers in the lower secondary schools. The theoretical framework of the…