The following outlines the rationale and structure of a professional learning initiative that seeks to explore teachers' ways of engaging students more actively in building mathematical connections for themselves. An example of one of the suggested experiences is presented.

"That was the day I decided I was bad at math." Countless times, preservice and in-service teachers make statements such as this after sharing vivid memories of learning multiplication facts. Timed tests; public competitive games, such as Around the World; and visible displays of who has and has not mastered groups of facts still…

The distinction between procedural and conceptual learning has long been a topic of discussion in mathematics education and the idea of compression into thinkable concepts that enable the individual make links between them (Tall, 2007). In addition to, the compression to thinkable concept was to be thinking mechanism arising naturally and…

Find out how to use photographic images to support the conceptual development of proportional thinking. This paper provides insight into a sequenced activity that promotes student engagement and makes links to familiar and unfamiliar contexts.

The fraction concept was analyzed to yield 16 subconcepts which are hypothesized to be hierarchically ordered. This ordering was tested using subjects in grades 4 through 6, and 18 of 23 dependencies hypothesized were confirmed. (SD)

This article presents the "concrete semiconcrete abstract" (CSA) teaching sequence for teaching basic math skills to students with and without learning disabilities. Guidelines include providing a minimum of nine instructional lessons (three at each level), each with four lesson steps. Validation of the CSA sequence and lesson format with 15…