In this conceptual article, we argue for the need to examine power relations in continuous improvement (CI) in education. Specifically, we contend that examining power in CI requires an examination of practices that constitute the work of CI. Drawing on practice theory, we conceptualize practice and power and use these constructs to examine a CI…

This paper focuses on in-service teacher education as a crucial agent in driving educational paradigm shifts for the teaching and learning of mathematical modelling. Our paper presents empirical research based on two case studies, examining training courses for in-service secondary school mathematics teachers. The first course integrates different…

Widening and increasing participation in advanced mathematics studies at upper-secondary level (age 16-18) is a significant challenge for most education systems. Policy makers in Ireland have attempted to address this challenge over the past decade by introducing an incentive to encourage students to study advanced mathematics. This study examines…

Years of failed attempts to engage my mathematics teacher students in exploration and co-creation led me to radically change my teaching approach. Inspired by literature that uses the jazz improv metaphor for teaching, I derived three tenets based on principles from jazz improv. First, I would bring no more than a single problem-solving task to…

Besides homework assignments, optional quizzes are a commonly used means for formative assessment in tertiary mathematics education. Instructors, for example, implement these to help students detect gaps in their understanding, or to foster a continuous and active engagement with the content. The extent to which these goals are reached, however,…

The aim of this study is to examine how algorithmatizing tasks engage mathematics students in algorithmic thinking. Structured, task-based interviews were conducted with eight Year 12 students as they completed a sequence of algorithmatizing tasks involving maximum flow problems. A deductive-inductive analytical process was used to first classify…

Mathematical word problem-solving skills are crucial for students across their lives, yet solving such tasks poses challenges for many. Therefore, understanding the characteristics of mathematical word problems that are associated with students' performance is important. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the…

In this article, we explore demands and tensions involved when schools implement ambitious mathematics teaching (AMT). Following a description of a framework that distinguishes between internal and external demands, we characterize the tension between these in terms of alignment, balance, and buffering, which collectively speak to coherence. We…

The lesson described in this article was developed and taught by a team of mathematics educators and physical therapists, with the shared goal of broadening students' perception of how mathematics concepts are applied in the real world. This lesson gives students authentic experience with the Gait Speed Test as a physical therapist would…

This study draws upon critical bifocality (Chen & Horn, 2022) and intersectional frameworks (Collins, 2019; Crenshaw, 1989) to detail critical consciousness development over time in justice-oriented elementary mathematics educators. Specifically, a Critical Participatory Inquiry (CPI) approach facilitated collective theorizing amongst myself…

Teachers can make number talks more ambitious and increase learning opportunities for students by debugging errors, promoting multi-student thinking, and orienting to make connections. This article describes the basic number talks routine and examines some common tendencies, such as "Serial Sharing." It concludes with a vignette to…

It is widely accepted that the classroom teaching practices of in-service secondary mathematics teachers can benefit from the advanced mathematics they learned during their university education. However, pinpointing explicit instances of how this advanced knowledge informs teaching practices has proven challenging for both teachers and…

Our bodies help us learn, and our bodies may know something before we can articulate it. Embodied explorations are body-based learning experiences where learners have opportunities to make sense of and convey ideas with their bodies. These embodied explorations were taught at a suburban public high school, in the southern United States, that…

Solving math word problems (MWPs) involves uncovering logical relationships among quantities in natural language descriptions of math problems. Recent studies have demonstrated that the contrastive learning framework can assist models in identifying semantically similar examples while distinguishing between different mathematical logics. This…

Integrating evidence-based strategies can allow educators to tailor math instruction to empower student learning. This Spotlight will help you investigate which math curricula schools are selecting; review the disconnect between math education theory and the methods teachers actually use; learn how teachers can optimize how they introduce math…