Stephens (2008) described structural thinking as an awareness of the way different occurrences of a mathematical property develop into correct generalisations. Many primary pre-service teachers (PSTs) graduate from their tertiary studies without the ability to notice structural thinking. In this study, two primary PSTs learned to notice structural…

This study examined the impact of an intervention, focused on professional noticing of children's conceptual development in whole number and arithmetic reasoning, on preservice elementary teachers' (PSETs') professional noticing skills, attitudes toward mathematics, and mathematical knowledge for teaching mathematics. A video-based professional…

Both scholars and professional standards identify teachers' knowledge of students as important to promoting effective instruction and student learning. Prior research investigates two such types of knowledge: knowledge of student thinking and teacher accuracy in predicting student performance on cognitive assessments. However, the field presents…

In this study, we investigate the relationship between teachers' noticing and the quality of their mathematics instruction. We analyzed the conversation of seven elementary teachers around five coaching cycles and scored their level of noticing and the mathematical quality of the instruction of the lesson. We compared teachers' noticing levels…

Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education has become an international focus of science education curricular reforms. However, few K-12 teachers have the background to authentically teach STEM in an integrated way. This is especially true of elementary teachers, who are often less confident or prepared to teach STEM disciplines…

Teachers are increasingly being called upon to teach in ways that develop 21st century learning skills in their students. Various frameworks for 21st century learning have been proposed and while they differ, all agree on four components for development--creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking. Both individually and…

The prevalence rate of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) among school aged children in the US has increased exponentially, compared to estimates from the year 2000. Increased numbers of elementary students with ASD are spending 80% or more of the school day in general education settings, which may pose challenges for both veteran and beginning…

Since the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics ([NCTM], 2000) and the National Research Council ([NRC], 2005) revealed that problem posing needed to be incorporated into mathematics classrooms, the importance of teachers' roles in problem posing has been emphasized in K-12 mathematics curriculum because of instructors' impact on students'…

Over the past few decades there has been increased interest in how students and teachers think and learn about negative numbers from a variety of perspectives. In particular, there has been debate about when integers should be taught and how to teach them to best support students' learning. This book brings together recent work from researchers to…

Quality Professional Development (PD) interventions are important to improve teaching in schools (Desimone, 2009) and students' achievement (Wayne, Yoon, Zhu, Cronen, & Garet, 2008). Recent research has been focusing on learning using a situative perspective (Greeno, 2006). Within this body of research, this study analyzed elementary school…

Professional learning experiences (PLEs) provide teachers with opportunities to improve their understanding of mathematics content and teaching practices. However, PLEs are often conducted in person and in small groups--hence costly and localized. The purpose of the current study was to explore different ways for teachers to engage in PLEs and how…

Despite the impetus from professional organizations for science and mathematics integration, few teacher training programs provide opportunities for teachers to develop the knowledge and skills in effective content integration. This study reports on the impact of a graduate course on in-service middle school, math, and science teachers'…

In this article, I discuss the status of teaching as a profession using Gardner and Shulman's framework emerging from their empirical examination of the professions in America and use Bernstein's sociology of knowledge to help explain how recontextualizing agents struggle to dominate the construction and interpretation of professionalism in…

For prospective teachers (PTs) to engage in lifelong systematic learning, they must be prepared to analyze teaching on the basis of its effects on student learning. We present the results of an intervention study aimed at developing PTs' ability to analyze a classroom video sample. The intervention used an online discussion board activity…

The use of visual representations (VRs) in mathematics is a strongly recommended practice in special education. Although recommended, little is known about special educators' knowledge of and instructional emphasis about VRs. Therefore, in this study, the authors examined special educators' own knowledge of and their instructional emphasis with…