The non-learning of school mathematics is now almost universally taken for granted, but this does not have to happen. This article takes a critical look at the root of this non-learning by pointing to the flagrant defects in the kind of mathematics--to be called TSM--that is predominant in almost all the school textbooks. By analyzing how the long…

This paper describes an after-school club aimed to engage elementary students in project-based learning by integrating mathematics and literacy connections within a community-based topic. Building on students' backgrounds and interests, researchers created the Community Super Investigators (CSI) Club as part of an after-school program to explore…

We present a reconceptualized framework for opportunity to learn (OTL) in school mathematics that builds on previous conceptualizations of OTL and includes features related to both quantity (i.e., time) and quality. Our framework draws on existing literature and on our own observational research of mathematics teaching practices. Through the…

This paper analyzes how a teacher of mathematics used problem posing in the assessment of the cognitive development of 26 students at the grade-four level. The students, ages 8 to 10 years, were from a rural elementary school in western Jamaica. Using a picture as a prompt, students were asked to generate three arithmetic problems and to offer…

As part of promoting and improving pattern discovery skills among school children, a Sudoku puzzle can be used as example of a problem solving task. A simplified version of the puzzle will be used first to explain the aim and reinforce the rules of solving the puzzle. Three strategies--"Strategy of Obvious Missing Number, Strategy of…