Numbers and variables often follow the same principles of arithmetic operations, yet numbers can be computed to a value whereas variables cannot. We examined the effect of symbols--numbers versus variables--on middle school students' problem-solving behaviors in a dynamic algebra notation system by presenting problems in numbers (e.g., 3+5-3) or…

Teachers' conceptions play an important role in their instructional practices. In this study, the researcher explored a small sample of Fijian secondary school mathematics teachers' conceptions of assessment. Thirteen mathematics teachers from two case study schools took part in this study that utilised one-to-one interviews to gain insights into…

This study looks at how students embody their ideas about geometry conjectures and how those ideas travel within and between student groups. In one classroom of a Title 1 high school, students participated in a three-part program in which they: (1) played "The Hidden Village," a motion-capture video game where they assess the veracity of…

Children's ability to discriminate nonsymbolic number (e.g. the number of items in a set) is a commonly studied predictor of later math skills. Number discrimination improves throughout development, but what drives this improvement is unclear. Competing theories suggest it may be due to a sharpening numerical representation or an improved ability…

A flipped classroom strategy is a teaching and learning strategy that had showed an increase in interest among educators from post-secondary to elementary educators. Flipped classrooms integrate technology as a resource where students can access lessons outside of the classroom. Instructional materials such as videos and podcasts are created,…

In Fall 2018, remedial mathematics courses were eliminated from the 23-campus California State University system under Executive Order 1110. Incoming first-year students were placed into college credit-bearing mathematics courses with options for corequisite support. This study examines the academic outcomes for students at California State…

This dissertation in practice (DIP), responsive evaluation (RE) explored relationships of the Faulkner Academic Math Excellence (FAME) Laboratory characteristics and specific perceptions of students enrolled in developmental mathematics education courses at a rural community college in Alabama's southeastern region. This program evaluation…

This dissertation is guided by my driving research question: what works for whom in education and why? I examine issues of instruction, assessment, and research approaches that begin to answer this question. Study 1 examines a classroom intervention's child x instruction interactions. Study 2 examines underlying cognitive factors, including…

Preservice teachers (PSTs) in teacher education programs frequently experience a disconnect between coursework and fieldwork, often referred to as the theory-practice gap. This study considered the mediated field experience (MFE) as a pedagogy that may help to bridge this divide in mathematics education by encouraging the creation of a hybrid…

Improving teachers' content knowledge in mathematics is one way to address the ongoing national concern of poor performance in math. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of self-regulated online professional development for teachers' knowledge of fractions, decimals, and percentages, as well as factors prompting that impact.…

Attending to students' thinking and using it to inform instruction has been shown to be an effective teaching practice. Although research on teacher noticing has explored how teachers attend to and interpret thinking in the moment and through video, less is known about the ways in which teachers notice students' thinking in written work, as well…

This study examines whether associations between enrollment in public and non-public PreK and children's (N = 508; M[subscript age] = 5.60 years in fall of kindergarten) math and language and literacy outcomes were more likely to be sustained through the spring of kindergarten for unconstrained versus constrained skills. Associations between…

Background/Context: The problems that school district leaders identify and how they frame them have consequences--for both policy implementation and the ways that teachers respond. Although that is likely true in all community contexts (from rural to urban, inside and outside metropolitan centers), the influence of broader discourses associated…

In the field of mathematics education, it is common for studies to use test scores to examine racial and socio-economic achievement gaps. The results of such studies have influenced mathematics teachers to address issues of equitable access and achievement as part of closing existing gaps (Gutierrez & Ezekiel Dixon-Roman, 2011). However,…

Two common interest-enhancement approaches in mathematics curriculum design are illustrations and personalization of problems to students' interests. The objective of these experiments is to test a variety of illustrations and personalization approaches. In the illustrations experiment, students (n = 265) were randomly assigned to lessons with…