We articulate a framework for delineating student thinking in active, STEM-rich learning environments. Researchers have identified ways of reasoning that relate to specific content areas and practices within each of the STEM disciplines. However, attempts at characterizing student thinking in transdisciplinary STEM environments remains in its…

In this paper we examine how facilitators' prior experiences as mathematics teachers frame their work when facilitating a practice-based professional development (PD) for the first time. We focus on the experiences of a novice facilitator of StoryCircles, a professional learning process in which teachers collectively script and visualize a…

A central goal of lesson-centered professional development programs (PD) for mathematics teachers is to learn by constructing an artifact, for example, by designing and improving a lesson plan together. That leads to the questions, what does it mean, for mathematics teachers, to improve a lesson? And how can improvements be accounted for in the…

Interest-driven activities, such as mathematical play, can support student agency, motivation, and engagement, and can foster dispositions that reflect authentic disciplinary engagement. However, the bulk of research on mathematical play investigates the mathematics that emerges in young children's natural play or in informal spaces such as video…

Our study investigates preservice teachers' perceptions of real-world problems; their beliefs about teaching real-world contexts, especially ones sociopolitical in nature; and their ability to pose meaningful real-world problems. In this paper we present cases of three preservice teachers who participated in interviews that probed their thinking…

In this proposal, we share research that explores the potential benefits of a novel Making experience within mathematics teacher preparation that we hypothesized would inform the pedagogical and curricular thinking of prospective teachers of elementary mathematics (PMTs). That experience had PMTs exploring at the intersection of content, pedagogy,…

Mathematics teachers develop understandings about instruction across multiple settings, such as classrooms, workshops, and professional learning communities. When teacher teams collaborate, their prior teaching and learning experiences meaningfully inform their sensemaking. However, current research does not explicitly link teacher conversations…

In the project MultiMa (Multiple solutions for mathematics teaching oriented toward students' self-regulation), we investigated the effects of prompting students to use multiple solution methods while solving real-world problems on their learning. In this quasi-experimental study, we compared three treatment conditions. In one condition, students…

This study examined the longitudinal effects of a middle school reform mathematics curriculum on students' open-ended problem solving in high school. Using assessment data from a large, longitudinal project, we compared the open-ended problem-solving performance and strategy use of high school students who had used the Connected Mathematics…

The research-project Co[superscript 2]CA investigates the influence of teacher-trainings on in-service teachers' expertise. Within a teacher-training-study 27 in-service teachers have been trained in selected ideas about teaching, having an exemplary focus on central aspects of formative assessment in competency-oriented mathematics. At the end of…

Being part of a larger research project aimed at connecting mathematics and science to the world of work by promoting mathematical modeling as an inquiry based approach, the present study aimed to (a) describe parents' beliefs about inquiry-based mathematical modeling and parental engagement, and (b) explore the impact of a modeling-based learning…

Although the Gender Achievement Gap is closing in mathematics, the "interest gap" in pursuing STEM fields is not. One recommendation for encouraging young women to continue on in mathematical studies is to find instructional methods that allow them to feel more included in the learning process--fostering attitudes such as…