Mathematics

There is a need for research on effective classroom strategies available for teachers that promote equitable school-family collaborations. Such effective strategies are needed in general but also specifically in the area of content, skill acquisition, and positive dispositions in early mathematics. This exploratory qualitative study looked at a mathematical routine, focused on family-provided photos and artifacts, that elicited children’s mathematical and general observations and inquiries and engaged families in mathematical communications.

Testing is a part of education around the world; however, there are concerns that consequences of testing is underexplored within current educational scholarship. Moreover, usability studies are rare within education. One aim of the present study was to explore the usability of a mathematics problem-solving test called the Problem Solving Measures–Computer-Adaptive Test (PSM-CAT) designed for grades six to eight students (ages 11–14). The second aim of this mixed-methods research was to unpack consequences of testing validity evidence related to the results and test interpretations, leveraging the voices of participants.

Testing is a part of education around the world; however, there are concerns that consequences of testing is underexplored within current educational scholarship. Moreover, usability studies are rare within education. One aim of the present study was to explore the usability of a mathematics problem-solving test called the Problem Solving Measures–Computer-Adaptive Test (PSM-CAT) designed for grades six to eight students (ages 11–14). The second aim of this mixed-methods research was to unpack consequences of testing validity evidence related to the results and test interpretations, leveraging the voices of participants.

Testing is a part of education around the world; however, there are concerns that consequences of testing is underexplored within current educational scholarship. Moreover, usability studies are rare within education. One aim of the present study was to explore the usability of a mathematics problem-solving test called the Problem Solving Measures–Computer-Adaptive Test (PSM-CAT) designed for grades six to eight students (ages 11–14). The second aim of this mixed-methods research was to unpack consequences of testing validity evidence related to the results and test interpretations, leveraging the voices of participants.

Testing is a part of education around the world; however, there are concerns that consequences of testing is underexplored within current educational scholarship. Moreover, usability studies are rare within education. One aim of the present study was to explore the usability of a mathematics problem-solving test called the Problem Solving Measures–Computer-Adaptive Test (PSM-CAT) designed for grades six to eight students (ages 11–14). The second aim of this mixed-methods research was to unpack consequences of testing validity evidence related to the results and test interpretations, leveraging the voices of participants.

Research has shown that teaching mathematics through problem posing, or problem-posing based learning (P-PBL), is a student-centered instructional approach that can improve students’ cognitive and affective aspects of learning. However, since textbooks continue to include very few opportunities for problem posing, researchers have been working to support teachers to integrate problem posing into classroom instruction, drawing on textbooks as a resource. In this paper, we describe how teachers in the P-PBL Project have engaged in instructional change with support from researchers around a high-quality middle school mathematics textbook series.

Efforts towards providing inclusive science and mathematics education for marginalized students are increasingly found in literature advocating for equity-oriented instruction through supporting students’ critical consciousness. Despite a growing body of research centering on teachers’ development of culturally relevant pedagogies, studies examining how teachers support students’ critical consciousness development are scarce in the context of science and mathematics education. Thus, this systematic review uses empirical literature on critical consciousness to explore teachers’ experiences integrating sociopolitical issues into their science and mathematics classrooms.

There are few guidelines related to how to implement integrated STEM education in the K-12 science classroom. It is important that teachers have opportunities to reflect on integrated STEM instruction when implemented so that they may further develop their practice. This research aimed to understand how the STEM Observation Protocol (STEM-OP) may be used as a way for teachers to reflect on their integrated STEM practice. This exploratory case study was designed to better understand secondary science teachers’ reflections on the STEM-OP by addressing the following research questions: 1) What are secondary science teachers’ reflections on integrated STEM practices as measured by the STEM-OP? and 2) In what ways do secondary science teachers envision using the STEM-OP as a tool in their practice?

This study examines the demographics, qualifications, and turnover of STEM teachers in Kansas and Missouri—two contiguous, predominantly rural states in the Midwestern region of the United States. The existing literature lacks detailed insights regarding U.S. STEM teachers, especially with recent economic and social changes over the COVID-19 pandemic, and there is particularly limited evidence regarding STEM teachers in the U.S. Midwest. Utilizing large-scale administrative longitudinal data, we filled part of this gap by documenting the characteristics and turnover patterns of STEM teachers in Kansas and Missouri over a 13-year period, from 2010 through 2023.

Research on teachers’ noticing of student mathematical thinking has typically focused on how a teacher attends to, interprets, and determines a response to an individual student contribution in isolation from the broader mathematical classroom context. This research focus is not nuanced enough, however, to fully account for the complex noticing required of a teacher engaged in responsive teaching. To support teachers in enacting responsive teaching, it is important to have a way to distinguish high-leverage student contributions from among the many contributions available to a teacher. We draw on a previously developed framework to help teachers identify such contributions, those referred to as a mathematically significant pedagogical opportunity to build on student thinking (MOST).