The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how exponential functions and patterns can be taught by well-structured lessons composed of classroom activities, mathematical questions, discussions, and solving problems. Sawyer (1943) used a rope-and-post system to introduce the concept of logarithms and to calculate a product by adding the…

This study aimed to reveal mathematical modeling processes and difficulties encountered in model-eliciting activities (MEAs) of 8thgrade students in a STEM education setting. This qualitative research is a case study conducted at a public school located in the central districts of a large province in the Mediterranean Region. The participants of…

The Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE) system is Queensland's senior school qualification. To support the introduction of the system in 2019, existing senior syllabuses were redeveloped and a new senior assessment model was established, this included the implementation of a mandatory high-stakes assessment task, the Problem-solving and…

We explored the mediating role of prior knowledge on the relation between intelligence and learning proportional reasoning. What students gain from formal instruction may depend on their intelligence, as well as on prior encounters with proportional concepts. We investigated whether a basic curriculum unit on the concept of density promoted…

In order to promote the design of innovative instructional activities at the Linear Algebra, we perform a design-based research project to explore how to teach Linear Algebra at the university level. In this article, we present the results of three cycles of a teaching experiment that we carried out to design, try out, and improve a local…

Current understanding of the development of quantity representations is based primarily on performance in the number-line task. We posit that the data from number-line tasks reflect the observer's underlying representation of quantity, together with the cognitive strategies and skills required to equate line length and quantity. Here, we specify a…

This study shows how, in the initial training of mathematics teachers, it is possible to promote processes of abstraction and mathematisation through modelling a real situation with the support of auxiliary material to mediate understanding. By adapting elements of the theoretical and methodological framework called Abstraction in Context (AiC),…

Most children, when presented with the option between two drink items, will choose the one with "more." But what exactly do children consider when they recognize one object as having more than another? Is it the perceived surface area or volume of an object? Depending on children's cognitive development, the aspect of measurement on…

In this dissertation study, I report on six middle school students' construction and interpretation of graphs and associated dynamic situations. Constructing and interpreting graphs represents a critical moment in middle school mathematics due to its opportunity to provide a powerful foundation for learning. Nevertheless, researchers have…

This article provides an overview of a modeling sequence that culminates in student reinvention of a bifurcation diagram. The sequence is the result of years of classroom-based research and curriculum development grounded in the instructional design theory of Realistic Mathematics Education. The sequence of modeling tasks and examples of student…

In this article we discuss relationships between the cyclic group Z[subscript 12] and Western tonal music that is embedded in a 12-note division of the octave. We then offer several questions inviting students to explore extensions of these relationships to other "n"-note octave divisions. The answers to most questions require only basic…

This paper aims to investigate the following question: How do students use mathematics in modeling activities? With this purpose, the paper reports on mathematization and use of mathematics, and deals with empirical data with focus on modeling activities performed by students in the first year and in the fourth year of a degree in mathematics.…

The notion of "praxeology" from the anthropological theory of the didactic (ATD) can be used as a framework to approach what has recently been called the "networking of theories" in mathematics education. Theories are interpreted as "research praxeologies," and different modalities of "dialogues" between…

This study aims to compare mathematical modelling abilities of prospective mathematics teachers. 38 Turkish prospective mathematics teachers studying at the Department of Primary Mathematics Education and 26 English prospective mathematics teachers studying at Initial Mathematics Teacher Education Program of the Graduate School of Education…

This paper uses a post-qualitative philosophical perspective to find new ways of understanding teaching and learning. The paper presents a series of examples that were used in a longitudinal study, with the aim of creating variation patterns that would make it possible for students to discern the use of the four basic arithmetic operations in…