Teachers report that engaging students in solving contextual problems is an important part of supporting student understanding of algorithms for fraction division. Meaning for whole-number operations is a crucial part of making sense of contextual problems involving rational numbers. The authors present a developed instructional sequence to…

Findings from an extensive four-year program with a single cohort of elementary and early middle school mathematics instructors highlight several important themes that can inform other efforts in developing teacher leaders. The authors describe the Arizona Master Teachers of Mathematics (AZ-MTM) program as an example that supports the development…

In the technology-rich twenty-first century, students are required to actively construct their knowledge and collaboratively engage in problem solving by using such skills as adaptability, communication, self-management, and systematic thinking. In accordance with this necessity, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education…

Geometry is the branch of mathematics that addresses spatial sense and geometric reasoning. Students begin to understand geometry through direct interaction with their physical world. Because it is the study of the physical attributes of the environment, geometry has relevance for every student; the world becomes a big classroom. As students see,…

For nearly three decades, during which the author taught everything from basic algebra to advanced placement calculus, the author thought of himself as a secondary school mathematics teacher. The notion of teaching elementary school math never appealed to him because of its simplicity. The author stresses that anyone could teach children to count,…