Effective teaching requires enjoyable classroom tasks aimed at promoting students' learning of mathematics meaningfully, and previous research has demonstrated that the use of origami activities in mathematics classrooms can help achieve that goal. In this article, the authors describe their "LOVE MATH" one-straight-cut letter origami…

Positioning students as competent is a teaching practice that uses specific, explicit affirmations to note that students have contributed something meaningful to the community of learners. It supports student agency in the mathematics classroom and contributes to the development of a positive mathematics identity. In this article, the authors…

"Catalyzing Change in Middle School Mathematics" is part of the Catalyzing Change Series, a collection of three books intended to initiate the critical conversations on policies, practices, and issues that impact mathematics education. In 2018, the first book in the series, "Catalyzing Change in High School Mathematics: Initiating…

Argumentation is an important mathematical practice, highlighted by research and policy documents that describe ways to structure reform-oriented classrooms (Nardi and Knuth 2017; NCTM 2000; NGA Center and CCSSI 2010). Participating in argumentation can enhance students' mathematics learning as they make sense of mathematical ideas, provide…

This article explores teaching practices described in NCTM's [National Council of Teachers of Mathematics'] "Principles to Actions: Ensuring Mathematical Success for All." Investigating and mitigating implicit bias in questions are discussed in this article, which is another installment in the series.

Schools have been using various approaches to address the pandemic-related struggles that students are experiencing with mathematics. There is an overwhelming consensus among both educators and researchers that we need to adopt acceleration rather than remediation as a tool to counteract the challenges that students currently face. Acceleration is…

Engaging in argumentation can lead to an increase in the development of critical-thinking skills, not to mention academic achievement, emotional maturity, and academic and communication skills. If argumentation is such an effective format for developing rigorous academic ideas, how might it be used in discussion-oriented classrooms to engage…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if a statistically significant difference existed in student growth and proficiency scores between students receiving gamified math instruction compared to those receiving non-gamified math instruction in a suburban middle school in Tennessee. This investigation is based on the theoretical…

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.

In April 2018, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) released "Catalyzing Change in High School Mathematics: Initiating Critical Conversations," a long-needed and well-articulated position for transforming the core purposes, structures, instructional practices, essential mathematics concepts, and organization of high…

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.

Too often, mathematics and science are taught in isolation from each other and from meaningful problems that matter to students. This book draws on the authors' experiences with teacher colleagues, including time spent in their classrooms co-developing and refining lessons. The core of their approach is to encourage learners to pursue solutions to…

This article explores facilitating meaningful mathematics discourse, one of the research-based practices described in "Principles to Actions: Ensuring Mathematical Success for All." Two tools that can support teachers in strengthening their classroom discourse are discussed in this, another installment in the series.

Take a deeper dive into understanding the five practices-anticipating, monitoring, selecting, sequencing, and connecting-for facilitating productive mathematical conversations in your middle school classrooms and learn to apply them with confidence. This follow-up to the modern classic, "The 5 Practices in Practice: Successfully Orchestrating…

The purpose of this resource is to help math teachers unpack, understand, and implement the current math content and practice standards. It describes the progressions of learning within each course and provides content supports that include broad ideas about effective instruction as well as practical instructional strategies. Math teachers,…