This paper proposes an experimental path aimed at guiding upper secondary school students to overcome that discontinuity, often perceived by them, between learning geometry and learning algebra. This path contributes to making students aware of how the algebraic language, formalized in the most powerful form by Descartes, grafts itself onto the…

We know from previous survey research that teachers who hold high expectations for all of their students significantly increase the odds that those young people will go on to complete high school and college. One indicator of teachers' expectations is their approach to grading--specifically, whether they subject students to more or less rigorous…

Students in secondary school often struggle with symbol sense, that is, the general ability to deal with symbols and to recognize the structure of algebraic formulas. Fostering symbol sense is an educational challenge. In graphing formulas by hand, defined as graphing using recognition and reasoning without technology, many aspects of symbol sense…

An important goal in school algebra is to help students notice the covariational nature of functional relationships, how the values of variables change in relation to each other. This study explored 102 Year 7 (12 to 13-year-old) students' covariational reasoning with their constructed graphs for figural growing patterns they had generalised. A…

This pilot study explores the effectiveness of a strategy for overcoming post-primary students' misconceptions within the topic of algebra. Although central to the study of mathematics, algebra can be an area of difficulty for many students. A misconception is typically classified as flawed understanding of a concept causing repeated errors, and…

This paper reports findings from a study that establishes empirical support for Harel's (Zentralblatt für Didaktik der Math 40:893-907 2008b) inclusion of "mathematical ways of thinking" as a component of teachers' professional knowledge base. Specifically, we examined the role of "quantitative reasoning" (Smith and Thompson,…

One of the main objectives in mathematics education is to motivate students due to the fact that their interest in this area is often very low. The use of different technologies, as well as gamification in the classroom, can help us to meet this goal. In this case, it is presented the use of two techniques, which are a digital escape room, using…

Students in upper secondary education encounter difficulties in applying mathematics in physics. To improve our understanding of these difficulties, we examined symbol sense behavior of six grade 10 physics students solving algebraic physic problems. Our data confirmed that students did indeed struggle to apply algebra to physics, mainly because…

The learning of algebra represents a difficulty within the mathematics learning process. Precisely because of their epistemological and ontological nature, semiotics provides a good key to understanding the main difficulties that hinder the learning of algebraic objects. The answers to a large scale assessments task that requires a treatment in…

The transition from arithmetic to algebra is a well-known difficulty in school mathematics. In order to succeed, learners require inter alia a better understanding of algebraic symbols, equality, equations and working with negatives/subtraction. This article reports on a response pattern analysis (RPA) of learners' responses to six test items…

As K-12 mathematics standards shift toward emphasizing both conceptual and procedural knowledge in secondary courses such as algebra and geometry, the struggles for students with disabilities become more pronounced. To address these challenges, research has commonly explored the use of technology to aid in the teaching of students with…

This study was aimed to validate a digital tool for diagnosing mathematical proficiency in the Number and Algebra strand of 1,504 Thai seventh-grade students. Researchers employed a multidimensional approach, an extension of the Rasch model to measure its quality. A design-based research method was adopted to create the diagnostic tool which…

Online learning platforms integrating open educational resources (OERs) are increasingly adopted in secondary education as supplemental resources for teaching and learning. However, students report difficulties sustaining their engagement because of the self-paced nature of OER-supported learning environments. We noted that little attention has…

This program evaluation examined the perceptions of secondary Teacher Development Specialists (TDS) regarding their coaching competencies in English language arts (ELA), mathematics, science, social studies, literacy, and instructional technology. Moreover, the study assessed the extent secondary TDS' coaching practices improved teachers'…

This study sought to answer the following questions: (1) Is it feasible to develop Academic Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and collect data on them across member urban school districts? (2) Are comparisons between districts on academic performance measures valid and reliable? (3) Do districts collect and maintain requested KPI data in a way…