A central issue in the mathematics curriculum is that we want students to make connections. This issue has been analysed in a series of curricula and instruction design and analysis studies. Moving towards mathematics connections--and away from treating mathematics as a body of isolated concepts and procedures--is an important goal of mathematics…

This book seeks to illustrate the research on mathematics competencies and disposition in China according to the conceptual development and empirical investigation perspective. Mathematics education in China has a distinguishing feature a focus of attention to mathematical competency. Paradoxically, there has not been an explicit, refined, and…

This paper reports on 2 studies that examine how mathematical problem posing is integrated in Chinese and US elementary mathematics textbooks. Study 1 involved a historical analysis of the problem-posing (PP) tasks in 3 editions of the most widely used elementary mathematics textbook series published by People's Education Press in China over 3…

Mathematical modeling is an open-ended research subject where no definite answers exist for any problem. Math modeling enables thinking outside the box to connect different fields of studies together including statistics, algebra, calculus, matrices, programming and scientific writing. As an integral part of society, it is the foundation for many…

In order to provide insight into cross-national differences in students' achievement, this study compares the initial treatment of the concept of function sections of Chinese and US textbooks. The number of lessons, contents, and mathematical problems were analyzed. The results show that the US curricula introduce the concept of function one year…

The importance of students' problem-posing abilities in mathematics has been emphasized in the K-12 curricula in the USA and China. There are claims that problem-posing activities are helpful in developing creative approaches to mathematics. At the same time, there are also claims that students' mathematical content knowledge could be highly…

In the Western developed world, the language of 21st century competencies, also referred to as 21st century skills or competences, is a powerful means of drawing attention to links between the secondary school curriculum, post-secondary education, and the social and economic imperatives of the developed economies. This paper will analyze different…

In 2001, the Chinese Ministry of Education issued Guidelines for Preschool Education (GPE) (trial version) to call on early childhood practitioners to use a child-centered and play-based approach to teaching and learning. The guidelines also include mathematics within the science domain and described its standards in a way that significantly…

This dissertation presents two studies designed to examine the topic of fraction division in selected Chinese and US curricula. By comparing the structure and content of the Chinese and "Everyday Mathematics" textbooks and teacher's guides, Study 1 revealed many different features presented in the selected curricula. Major differences…

This document contains the proceedings of the China-Japan-U.S. Seminar on Mathematical Education that was held in 1993 in China. The focus of the Seminar was problem solving in mathematics education. The main purposes of the seminar were: to examine the present states of problem solving in school mathematics in China, Japan, and the U.S.; to…

This document consists of three issues of the journal "Seedbed," an outcome of the Teachers' Center Project at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville (SIUE). Issue Number 29 contains 67 articles on teachers' ideas that they thought worth sharing with other teachers. Issue Number 30 consists of a single paper, "Children and…

This three-part volume addresses topics and issues related to the education of secondary school mathematics teachers. The first part focuses on six contemporary trends in secondary school mathematics which bear heavily upon initial training. They include: the current concern for problem-solving; the influences of environmental change on…