Effective mathematics teaching practices include not only probing student thinking and selecting student strategies to share but also facilitating discourse and encouraging reflection about important mathematical ideas (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics [NCTM], 2014, pp. 36-37). Encouraging students to use precise academic vocabulary to…

All students want to talk about ideas that interest them, but often, multilingual learners are not offered high-challenge, high-support opportunities to connect everyday experiences to mathematical ideas. We describe a single class period that connects students' everyday opinions with two-way tables and notions of independence.

Mathematical modeling tasks can engage students in ways in which they see themselves as mathematicians capable of using mathematics to solve real-world and complex problems. As mathematics teacher educators and researchers, the authors collaborated with two 5th-grade teachers, Liz and Anna (pseudonyms), focusing on equitable practices that foster…

Purposeful questioning is one of the most important elements to promote successful mathematics understanding (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2014; Ontario Ministry of Education, 2011). Questioning helps teachers to elicit, interpret, and respond to student thinking (Stein et al., 2008) and supports students' understanding,…

Children are having fewer embodied social interactions outside (Haidt, 2024). Thus, there is a need to create embodied activities that turn students' attention to each other and nature (Barwell et al., 2022) and that build from their interests (Frankenstein & Powell, 2023). Using a socio-ecological framework that centers on relationships among…

This article encourages promoting a sense of belonging in the field of mathematics for children of all backgrounds by using multicultural children's literature to teach the subject. Doing so challenges inequitable structures while also connecting learners authentically to the increasingly diverse world around them, empowering their…

Mathematics learning requires student vulnerability because students are expected to persist in making sense of complex problems despite their uncertainty. For Black students specifically, societal and educational narratives about mathematics learning and participation may implicitly communicate messages to them that they do not belong. This…

Teaching diverse student populations effectively requires implementing thoughtfully planned and flexible rich tasks and understanding a community's strengths so students can make meaningful connections to mathematics. Using a culturally relevant teaching approach can develop appropriate geometry vocabulary to support students in articulating their…

Mathematical concepts have been a consensus goal for decades, yet there is little consensus on what is meant by the terms "mathematical concept" and "mathematical understanding." This article attempts to discuss these terms in a way that can be of practical use to teachers. Greater clarity on "mathematical concept"…

The authors wondered if there was a way to support their reluctant Grades 4, 5, and 6 students in contributing their starting points and strategies and advancing their collective knowledge. They wanted to ensure that the students had the space to develop and take ownership of the strategies they produced through a visual representation of ideas…

For over a decade, Which One Doesn't Belong? (WODB; Danielson, 2016) has been a beloved classroom routine that invites students to engage in mathematical decision-making and justification. In the WODB routine, four related figures are shown to students, and they are asked to decide which of them doesn't belong with the other three. The beauty of…

The authors developed an instructional nudges as part of a larger research project. These instructional nudges are designed to be small but powerful changes to teachers' existing practices. Some instructional nudges focus on modifying tasks used in classrooms. In this article, the authors share Rate and Review. The goal of Rate and Review is to…

Seeds of Algebraic Thinking comes from the Knowledge in Pieces (KiP) perspective of learning. KiP is a systems approach to learning that stems from the constructivist idea that people learn by building on prior knowledge. As people experience the world, they acquire small, sub-conceptual knowledge elements. When people engage in a particular…

Even though there is a great temptation as teachers to share what is known, many are aware of an idea called "rules that expire" (RTE) and have realized the importance of avoiding them. There is evidence that students need to understand mathematical concepts and that merely presenting rules to carry out in a procedural and disconnected…

A sense of belonging in mathematics--feeling accepted and valued in the field (Good et al., 2012)--is a powerful predictor of student success. However, many students, particularly those from marginalized backgrounds, often lack this feeling as a result of limited representation in curricula and school cultures (Barbieri & Miller-Cotto, 2021).…