Examines the collaborative efforts of a mathematics educator and statistician to help prospective elementary teachers develop statistical knowledge and experience through merging statistical investigation into existing elementary curricula. Offers insight into preservice teachers' statistical and pedagogical content knowledge based on their…

Discusses the impact of technology such as graphing calculators or statistical software packages on statistics instruction and curriculum as it makes teaching some topics unnecessary, makes instruction in some topics better, and allows for the teaching of some topics that have never been taught. (ASK)

In a future that is likely to be increasingly dominated by new technology, it is important to consider what mathematics is and how it might be taught. This article discusses these and related issues in the context of both universities and schools.

During the 1990s, the teaching of mathematics became the subject of heated controversies known as the math wars. The immediate origins of the conflicts can be traced to the "reform" stimulated by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' "Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics." Traditionalists fear that reform-oriented,…

There is growing evidence that socioeconomic (SES)-related differences in mathematical knowledge begin in early childhood, because young children from economically disadvantaged families receive less support for mathematical development than their middle-class peers receive. A pre-kindergarten mathematics intervention, including a pre-kindergarten…

Since the advent of the NCTM "Standards" (1989), mathematics educators have been faced with the challenge of assessing the impact of "Standards"-based (or "reform") curricula. Research on the impact of "Standards"-based curricula has predominantly focused on student achievement; here we consider an alternative: Students' epistemological…

This study evaluated the validity of curriculum-based word problem-solving measures as indicators of proficiency in mathematics with a sample of 77 children in third grade. In the winter and spring of third grade, children completed a battery of general achievement tests in mathematics in addition to curriculum-based problem-solving and…

School plays an important role in the formation of children's positive attitudes towards the environment. Mathematics textbooks also play an important role in environmental education, because environmental problems have two distinct features: the quality and the quantity of environmental resources. It is well known that as students go higher in…

It is customary for engineering syllabuses to include a substantial amount of mathematics, a fact traditionally justified through their usefulness in the analysis and resolution of many technological problems. In other words, usually the role of mathematics in engineering is emphasized. Nevertheless, the opposite viewpoint could be considered as…

National and international assessments indicate that U.S. students lose ground in mathematics as they progress into middle and high school. It is suggested that the organization of traditional mathematics textbooks, which form the backbone of mathematics instruction, hinders acquisition of the foundational skills necessary for success in higher…

Mathematical literacy is more than numeracy; it is an individual's capacity to identify and understand the role that mathematics plays in the world and to make well-founded judgments that use and engage mathematics to meet his or her future needs as a constructive, concerned, and reflective citizen (Programme for International Student Assessment…

Today, mathematics education faces two major challenges: raising the floor by expanding achievement for all, and lifting the ceiling of achievement to better prepare future leaders in mathematics, as well as in science, engineering, and technology. Many students lack access to higher-level mathematics courses and teaching at all levels of…

As part of the Victorian Early Numeracy Research Project, over 1400 Victorian children in the first (Preparatory) year of school were assessed in mathematics by their classroom teachers. Using a task-based, one-to-one interview, administered during the first and last month of the school year, a picture emerged of the mathematical knowledge and…

Learning how to use mathematics curriculum materials to create learning opportunities is an important part of the work of teaching. This paper presents findings from a study involving 15 elementary preservice teachers enrolled in, first, a content and, then, a methods course, and discusses the extent to which three curriculum interventions…

In the research reported in this article, we sought to understand the instructional practices of 26 secondary teachers from one district who use a problems-based mathematics textbook series (Core-Plus). Further, we wanted to examine beliefs that may be associated with their instructional practices. After analyzing data from classroom…