This study comes at an opportune moment for Japanese and U.S. educators, policymakers, and researchers given the trends of global policy and equity-based reform. Discussions of academic achievement in both societies allow us to examine accessibility in mathematics education in order to best prepare teachers to serve the needs of students.…

This paper explores the relationship between social backgrounds and geographical locations with mathematical achievement. Using the national testing system in Australia, correlations between the variables were explored and it was found that students from rural and low SES backgrounds are still being marginalised in school mathematics--in terms of…

Understanding how students translate between mathematical representations is of both practical and theoretical importance. This study examined students' processes in their generation of symbolic and graphic representations of given polynomial functions. The purpose was to investigate how students perform these translations. The result of the…

This study comes at an opportune moment for Japanese and U.S. educators, policymakers, and researchers given the trends of global policy and equity-based reform. Discussions of academic achievement in both societies allows us to examine mathematics education as a public good versus private commodity in order to best serve the needs of students.…

This article explores junior high school students' views regarding what it takes to be successful in mathematics. Qualitative and quantitative methods were employed to collect and analyse data, describe and interpret junior high school students (12-14 years) perceptions about what it takes to be successful in mathematics. 22 students from four…

Recent mathematics education reform calls for efforts to create collaborative and student-centered environments, where students have opportunities to reason and construct their understanding as part of a community of learners. Mathematics instruction should provide students opportunities to engage in mathematical inquiry and meaning making through…

In this study we explored the effects of providing ninth-grade students with the chance to take part in decision making concerning the mathematics level they would be assigned to in high school. Decisions concerned their self-competence regarding their mathematical abilities, their learning goals and the class atmosphere. The students were taught…

In this paper, we present a framework used to analyze the extent to which assessments (i.e., chapter tests) accompanying three published elementary grades 3-5 curricula in the United States provide students with opportunities to engage with key mathematical processes. The framework uses indicators for five criteria to assess the processes of…

This article reports an innovative use of photographs in a pencil-and-paper test which was developed to assess young children's understanding of mass measurement. Two hundred and ninety-five tests were administered by thirteen teachers of Years 1 and 2 children in 3 urban and rural schools. Many of these children of 6-8 years of age were able to…

This is an ethnographic study of promotion of metacognition, focusing on the teaching practices in secondary mathematics classrooms of three teachers in the UK. With all three teachers, observations of their teaching and interviews regarding their teaching were conducted. The main aim was analysing and substantiating the parallels and differences…

In mathematics education, there has been tension between deep learning and repetitive learning. Western educators often emphasize the need for students to construct a conceptual understanding of mathematical symbols and rules before they practise the rules (Li, 2006). On the other hand, Chinese learners tend to be oriented towards rote learning…

This study investigated the development of the concept of variables in middle grades mathematics textbooks during four eras of mathematics education in the United States. Findings revealed that each of the middle grades mathematics curricula examined used variables, but in varied proportions and levels of complexity. Formal definitions for…

Parental involvement in the form of "at-home" interest and support has a major influence on pupils' educational outcomes and attitudes. Many parents, however, feel uninformed about current educational practices and how they can be more involved with their child's learning. A number of initiatives have been implemented internationally to encourage…

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and numerous mathematics educators promote the combination of conceptual understanding and procedural learning in the successful instruction of mathematics. Despite this, when geometric mean is taught in a typical American geometry class, it is taught as a process only despite the many connections…

The purpose of this qualitative research is to examine the views of 21 secondary mathematics student teachers attending Mathematical Modelling Course regarding mathematical modelling in a state university in Turkey; reasons why they chose this course and their expectations from the course in question. For this reason, three open-ended questions…