In this article, the authors describe critical issues related to the pursuit of rigorous and innovative research in the fields of mathematics and science education. The paper is framed to help researchers consider aspects of both their research project and their research proposal. The authors describe features of high-quality and fundable research…

The Zen concept of beginner's mind describes how one's level of awareness can open one's mind to growth and possibilities, an attitude that would be beneficial for many mathematics students. In this naturalistic case study, two small groups of middle years students engage in the same mathematical task, one group demonstrating the characteristics…

The following action research depicts how two researchers from two universities merged their courses and goals of instruction to impact change in future teachers. Two currently practicing middle school teachers from one university worked with researchers to develop a social justice lesson that had relevance to seventeen K-8 pre-service teachers at…

The present study, conducted from the perspective of cultural history (Certeau, 1982; Chartier, 1990; Chervel, 1990; Julia 2001)), aims to investigate guidelines for the use of teaching materials to teach fractions in the primary school, present in pedagogical manuals of the period from 1930 to 1970. The research is based in references such as…

The relationship between teacher interventions and students' mathematical thinking has been the subject of inquiry for quite some time. Using the Pirie-Kieren theory for dynamic growth in mathematical understanding, this study documents teacher interventions that support students' growth toward developing a general understanding of a mathematical…

The purpose of the current study was to examine the preferred mobile learning features higher education Emirati students use to make sense of mathematics and to determine if these Emirati students valued a mobile device as an essential tool to learn mathematics. Both students and instructors used the Texas Instruments Nspire: Computer Algebra…

To test the hypothesis that a higher tendency to "s"pontaneously "f"ocus "o"n "m"ultiplicative "r"elations (SFOR) leads to improvements in rational number knowledge via more exact estimation of fractional quantities, we presented sixth graders (n = 112) with fraction number line estimations and a…

Employing data from the National Center of Educational Statistics' High School Longitudinal Study and utilizing critical race theory and intersectionality as theoretical frameworks, this article interrogates the relationship between mathematics identity and math success for a nationwide sample of Black secondary school students. More specifically,…

Baroody, Lai & Mix [2006. The development of young childrens number and operation sense and its implications for early childhood education. In B. Spodek, & O. N. Saracho (Eds.), "Handbook of research on the education of young children" (2nd Ed., pp. 187-221). NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.] differentiate between four different learning…

Special Education teachers face increasing difficulties when teaching students with Mathematical learning disorders. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether special education pre-service and in-service teachers in a university in the Middle East are receiving proper training to deal with students with disabilities in learning…

What makes a productive mathematics discussion? Who does the talking? Whose ideas are taken up? Can a student question take the lesson in an unexpected but valuable direction? What does it mean to be responsive to students' mathematical thinking? These questions intrigued the authors as teachers, teacher educators, and researchers, and they…

In this article, we use a simple lattice model to illustrate the concepts of entropy, free energy, and thermodynamic equilibrium from a microscopic perspective. These physical concepts are based on elementary knowledge of discrete probability distribution and weighted average. Calculations about this model involve basic algebra and counting, which…

This study examined the influence of mathematical modeling in GeoGebra environment on students' learning of the concept of the derivative and its application. The study included an experimental and a control group with 204 first-year undergraduate students of applied sciences. The students in the experimental group (102 students) conducted the…

This paper shows the results of the epistemological and didactical analysis of the sense of variation of functions. Specifically, on the conceptions of growth and decay in a function that underlie the demonstrations of the theorem that links the sign of "f" with the sense of variation of "f". The epistemological approach…

We present an algorithm for a matrix-based Enigma-type encoder based on a variation of the Hill Cipher as an application of 2 × 2 matrices. In particular, students will use vector addition and 2 × 2 matrix multiplication by column vectors to simulate a matrix version of the German Enigma Encoding Machine as a basic example of cryptography. The…