As mathematical patterns become more complex, students' conditional reasoning skills need to be nurtured so that students continue to critique, construct, and persevere in making sense of these complexities. This article describes a mathematical task designed around the online version of the game Mastermind to safely foster conditional reasoning.
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Scott Corwin, Michelle Cascio, Katherine Emerson, Laura Henn, and Catherine Lewis
Our middle school mathematics department used lesson study to investigate how to introduce fractions division to our sixth-grade students. We highlight our learnings during the Study and Plan phases, describe our observations during the lesson, and provide tips for educators interested in using lesson study to study their own content.
Aline Abassian and Farshid Safi
This article dives into the importance of engaging students in investigating the mathematics of businesses that pressure their members to recruit new members as a basis for success, also referred to as multi-level marketing (MLM). The mathematics behind these businesses are discussed, and a sample student task is given.
Jennifer A. Czocher, Diana L. Moss, and Luz A. Maldonado
Conventional word problems can't help students build mathematical modeling skills. on their own. But they can be leveraged! We examined how middle and high school students made sense of word problems and offer strategies to question and extend word problems to promote mathematical reasoning.
Ryan Seth Jones, Zhigang Jia, and Joel Bezaire
Too often, statistical inference and probability are treated in schools like they are unrelated. In this paper, we describe how we supported students to learn about the role of probability in making inferences with variable data by building models of real world events and using them to simulate repeated samples.
Krista L. Strand and Katie Bailey
K-5 teachers deepen their understanding of the Common Core content standards by engaging in collaborative drawing activities during professional development workshops.
Gabriel Matney, Julia Porcella, and Shannon Gladieux
This article shares the importance of giving K-12 students opportunities to develop spatial sense. We explain how we designed Quick Blocks as an activity to engage our students in both spatial reasoning and number sense. Several examples of students thinking are shared as well as a classroom dialogue.
Pamela J. Dunston and Andrew M. Tyminski
Techniques for teaching mathematics terminology allow adolescents to expand their abstract reasoning ability and move beyond operations into problem solving.
Tutita M. Casa
This instructional tool helps students engage in discussions that foster student reasoning, then settle on correct mathematics.
Informing Practice: Examples as Tools for Constructing Justifications
research matters for teachers
Kristen N. Bieda and Jerilynn Lepak
Research explores how to help students build from, instead of building with, examples when justifying mathematical ideas.
