SIGMAA conference starts today

Another conference starts today - SIGMA on RUME 2008. The acronym(s) translate(s): Special Interest Group of the Mathematical Association of America (SIGMA) on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education (RUME). The plenary speaker on this opening day is John Mason from The Open University & Oxford University. Mason's talk is entitled "Phenomenal Mathematics at University Level". The other plenary speakers and their subjects are:

• Judith Grabiner, "Why should historical truth matter to math teachers?"
• David Hammer, "Attending and responding to students' epistemologies in physics instruction"
• Anna Sierpinska, "Institutional perspective in research in mathematics education"

An impressive gathering of keynote speakers, and a very interesting program indeed. Watch out for the proceedings, they are going to be electronic!

Analyzing students' difficulties in vector space theory

Mirko Maracci has written an article that has recently been published (online first) by ZDM. The article is called "Combining different theoretical perspectives for analyzing students’ difficulties in vector spaces theory", and it originates in a doctorate research project investigating the errors and difficulties in vector space theory of graduate and undergraduate students. The data was analyzed with two different theoretical frameworks:

• Efraim Fischbein's (founder of PME) theory of tacit models
• Anna Sfard's process/object duality theory
  

Social norms in problem-solving

Konstantinos Tatsis and Eugenia Koleza published an article called "Social and socio-mathematical norms in collaborative problem-solving" in the latest issue of European Journal of Teacher Education. Here is a copy of the abstract:

Based on the notions of social and socio-mathematical norms we
investigate how these are established during the interactions of
pre-service teachers who solve mathematical problems. Norms identified
in relevant studies are found in our case too; moreover, we have found
norms related to particular aspects of the problems posed. Our results
show that most of these norms, once established, enhance the
problem-solving process. However, exceptions do exist, but they have a
local orientation and a relatively small influence.

Some interesting new articles

Some of the main journals have published new (online first) articles that might be interesting to some:

• Heinz Steinbring wrote an article in ZDM, called: "Changed views on mathematical knowledge in the course of didactical theory development—independent corpus of scientific knowledge or result of social constructions?" In this article he shows how the didactical tradition in Germany has evolved in order to respond to new ideas and approaches in mathematics education.
  
  
• Jeff C. Marshall et al. wrote an article in International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, called "K-12 Science and Mathematics Teachers’ Beliefs About and Use of Inquiry in the Classroom". Here they describe how they made and used a survey instrument in order to measure mathematics and science teachers' beliefs about and use of
  inquiry in the classroom.
  
  
• Vanessa Ramos-Christian et al. wrote an article in Early Childhood Education Journal, called "Math Fluency: Accuracy Versus Speed in Preoperational and Concrete Operational First and Second Grade Children". They present a study that aims to investigate the relationship between cognitive ability and math fluency with 38 first and second grade
  elementary aged children.
  
• Ana Isabel Sacristán and Richard Noss wrote an article in International Journal of Computers for Mathematical Learning, called "Computational Construction as a Means to Coordinate Representations of Infinity". They describe a design experiment aimed at helping students to explore and develop concepts of infinite processes and objects.

Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, February 2008

The February issue of Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School has several interesting articles. The free preview article in this issue is "Teaching Algebra without Algebra", by Richard S. Kalman. He is executive director of the Mathematical Olympiads for Elementary and Middle Schools. The abstract presents the contents of the article as follows:

Article discusses the value of problem solving in setting the stage for future math studies and thoroughly discusses three problems that can be solved verbally and algebraically.

Mathematics Teaching - March, 2008

The March issue of Mathematics Teaching has been published, and it presents the following feature articles:

• A congruence challenge, by Francis Lopez-Real
• Farewell coursework! by Loraine Rigglesford
• Learning about primes, by Alec McEachran (this is the centre feature, and is freely available!)

Other articles that are freely available in this issue:

• The city of mathematics, by Adrian Watts and Class 4A
• Functioning with geometry and fractions, by Dereck Ball and Barbara Ball

The issue also presents four research articles, but none of them are freely available for download.

CMEG-5

Yesterday, the CMEG-5 conference started. The 5th International Conference on Creativity in Mathematics and the Education of Gifted Students is held in Israel, and it closes on Thursday. One of the interesting plenary lectures is held by Gerald Goldin of Rutgers University, USA. The title of his presentation is "The Affective Dimension of Mathematical Inventiveness", and here is the abstract with references:

The affective domain includes emotional feelings, attitudes, beliefs, and values, as well as many complex psychological and social constructs in which these occur.
Recent research points to the fundamental importance of affect in mathematical learning and problem solving. Some aspects of the structure of mathematics, as a disciplined way of generating knowledge and as a traditional school subject, can raise high affective barriers to students’ curiosity and inventiveness.
In this talk I shall first highlight some theoretical ideas important in current research, including: affect as an internal, interactive representational system; affective pathways; meta-affect; mathematical intimacy, integrity, and personal identity; and archetypal affective structures. I shall then discuss how we can develop affective processes and structures – in our students and in ourselves – that foster mathematical ability and mathematical creativity.

References:
DeBellis, V. A. & Goldin, G. A. (2006). Affect and meta-affect in mathematical problem solving: A representational perspective. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 63 (2), 131-147.

Epstein, Y., Schorr, R. Y., Goldin, G. A., Warner, L., Arias, C., Sanchez, L., Dunn, M., & Cain, T. R. (in press). Studying the affective/social dimension of an inner-city mathematics class. Proceedings of the 29th Annual Conference of PME-NA (Lake Tahoe, Nevada, November 2007).

Goldin, G. A. (2000). Affective pathways and representation in mathematical problem solving. Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 2, 209-219.

Goldin, G. A. (2002). Affect, meta-affect, and mathematical belief structures. InLeder, G., Pehkonen, E., & Törner, G. (Eds.), Beliefs: A Hidden Variable in Mathematics Education? Dordrecht: Kluwer (pp. 59-72).


P.S. Goldin's article can be read in its entirety in the conference proceedings, which is freely available as a downloadable PDF!

IEJME, number 1, 2008

International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education has delivered its first of three issues this year. The list of contents displays the following articles:

Examining “Mathematics For Teaching” Through An Analysis Of Teachers’ Perceptions Of Student “Learning Paths”
Donna Kotsopoulos and Susan Lavigne, Canada

Revisiting the Influence of Numerical Language Characteristics on Mathematics Achievement: Comparison among China, Romania, and U.S.
Jian Wang, Emily Lin, Madalina Tanase, and Midena Sas, USA

The Effects Of Grade Level, Gender, And Ethnicity On Attitude And Learning Environment In Mathematics In High School
Thienhuong N. Hoang , USA

Teacher Instructional Methods and Student Attitudes towards Mathematics
M. K. Akinsola, Botswana and F.b. Olowojaiye, Nigeria

The download links don't appear to work at the time of writing this, but that will hopefully be fixed soon!

Teaching Mathematics and its Applications, issue 1, 2008

Teaching Mathematics and its Applications has just published their first issue this year. The issue presents the following articles:

Chun-Yi Lee and Ming-Puu Chen

Bridging the gap between mathematical conjecture and proof through computer-supported cognitive conflicts
Teaching Mathematics and its Applications Advance Access published on October 1, 2007
Teaching Mathematics Applications 2008 27: 1-10; doi:10.1093/teamat/hrm014 [Abstract] [PDF] [Request Permissions]

Kris Green and Allen Emerson

Reorganizing freshman business mathematics I: background and philosophy
Teaching Mathematics and its Applications Advance Access published on November 21, 2007
Teaching Mathematics Applications 2008 27: 11-23; doi:10.1093/teamat/hrm017 [Abstract] [PDF] [Request Permissions]

Bulent Guven

Using dynamic geometry software to convey real-world situations into the classroom: the experience of student mathematics teachers with a minimum network problem
Teaching Mathematics and its Applications Advance Access published on December 11, 2007
Teaching Mathematics Applications 2008 27: 24-37; doi:10.1093/teamat/hrm018 [Abstract] [PDF] [Request Permissions]

Billy J. Duke, Jerry F. Dwyer, Jennifer Wilhelm, and Barbara Moskal

Complex variables in junior high school: the role and potential impact of an outreach mathematician
Teaching Mathematics and its Applications Advance Access published on December 3, 2007
Teaching Mathematics Applications 2008 27: 38-47; doi:10.1093/teamat/hrm019 [Abstract] [PDF] [Request Permissions]

Chris Heys
Getting the best out of Excel
Teaching Mathematics and its Applications Advance Access published on August 6, 2007
Teaching Mathematics Applications 2008 27: 48-52; doi:10.1093/teamat/hrm013

[Abstract] [PDF] [Request Permissions]

JRME, issue 2, 2008

Journal of Research in Mathematics Education (JRME) has published its second issue of this year. The list of contents contains the following research articles:

Studying the Effects of Professional Development: The Case of the NSF's Local Systemic Change Through Teacher Enhancement Initiative
Daniel J. Heck, Eric R. Banilower, Iris R. Weiss and Sharyn L. Rosenberg

First-Grade Basic Facts: An Investigation Into Teaching and Learning of an Accelerated, High-Demand Memorization Standard
Valerie J. Henry and Richard S. Brown

Standards-based Mathematics Curricula and Middle-Grades Students' Performance on Standardized Achievement Tests
Thomas R. Post, Michael R. Harwell, Jon D. Davis, Yukiko Maeda, Arnie Cutler, Edwin Andersen, Jeremy A. Kahan and Ke Wu Norman

BOOK REVIEW: Looking Inside Chinese Mathematics Education: A Review of How Chinese Learn Mathematics: Perspectives from Insiders
Jon R. Star and Kuo-Liang Chang

Mathematics education research links 02/22/2008

JEM - Joining Educational Mathematics | eContentPlus Thematic Network

tags: education, mathematics, research

IJSME - online first article

A new (online first) article has been published by International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, called Number Sense Strategies Used by Pre-Service Teachers in Taiwan. The article was written by Der-Ching Yang, R.E. Reys and B.J. Reys.

In this interesting article, the researchers describe an examination of strategies and misconceptions regarding number sense with 280 pre-service elementary teachers from Taiwan. In the test, these pre-service teachers responded to a series of real-life problems. In the following, I quote the abstract:

About one-fifth of the pre-service teachers applied number sense-based
strategies (such as using benchmarks appropriately or recognizing the
number magnitude) while a majority of pre-service teachers relied on
rule-based methods. This finding is consistent with earlier studies in
Taiwan that fifth, sixth, and eighth grade students tended to rely
heavily on written methods rather than using number sense-based
strategies. This study documents that the performance of pre-service
elementary teachers on number sense is low. If we want to improve
elementary students’ knowledge and use of number sense, then action
should be taken to improve the level of their future teachers’ number
sense.

ZDM - online first article

ZDM recently published another (online first) article, called:
Comparing theoretical frameworks enacted in experimental research: TELMA experience. The article is written by M. Cerulli, J. Trgalova, M. Maracci, G. Psycharis and J.-P. Georget. In the article, they present a methodology developed by six European research teams. The methodology is:

based on a cross-experimentation, showing how it gave insight to the
understanding of each team’s research and on the relationship between
theoretical frameworks and experimental research (from the abstract).

Closing of MES-5

Tomorrow is the final day of the MES-5 conference, but the ordinary lectures end today. The plenary lecture today is held by Ole Ravn Christensen of Aalborg University (see his article). In his presentation, he is discussing a connection between the philosophy of mathematics and mathematics education research. His theoretical point of departure, when it comes to the philosophy of mathematics, is Wittgenstein. He presents us with an argument:

(...) that the later Wittgenstein presents us with an unreservedly social interpretation of mathematics that favours a certain direction for our research on mathematics education. According to this interpretation, mathematics could be considered to be constituted exclusively in complex social processes, in which case any conception of it mirroring a pre-existing world of mathematical objects is rejected. To contrast with the Wittgensteinian position, a Platonist position is presented and the two philosophical positions are discussed in relation to their significance for mathematics education (from the abstract).

Math growth from kindergarten through third grade

The first number of Sociology of Education this year included an article by J.E. Cheadle, called: Educational Investment, Family Context, and Children's Math and Reading Growth from Kindergarten Through the Third Grade. The article draws on data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, and (quoting the abstract):

The results indicate that educational investments are an important mediator of socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparaties, completely explaining the black-white reading gap at kindergarten entry and consistently explaining 20 percent to 60 percent and 30 percent to 50 percent of the black-white and Hispanic-white disparities in the growth parameters, respectively, and approximately 20 percent of the socioeconomic gradients.

The assessments in the study included mathematics areas such as number sense, properties, operations, measurement, geometry and spatial sense, data analysis, statistics, probability, patterns, algebra, and functions (p. 7).


Reference:
Cheadle, Jacob, E. (2008). Educational investment, family context, and children's math and reading growth from kindergarten through the third grade. Sociology of Education, 81(1):1-31.

Educational Researcher -- Table of Contents (January/February 2008, 37 [1])

Educational Researcher has released their first issue of the year, and the list of contents can be found online. Although not a journal within our field precisely, the articles herein focus on issues that are at least indirectly related to research in mathematics education. The feature article in this issue is:

Robert E. Slavin

Perspectives on Evidence-Based Research in Education—What Works? Issues in Synthesizing Educational Program Evaluations

Educational Researcher 2008 37: 5-1

Mathematics education research links 02/17/2008

Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) - Overview

tags: education, mathematics, research, timss

CSME - Centre for the Study of Mathematics Education

tags: center, education, mathematics, research

Mathematics education research links 02/16/2008

Ten Myths About Mathematics Education And Why You Shouldn't Believe Them

tags: education, mathematics

TERC

tags: education, mathematics, research, science

Home of the Association of Teachers of Mathematics

tags: education, mathematics, organization, teacher

Math Blog Directory

tags: blog, list, mathematics

NYC HOLD National on Mathematics Education Reform

tags: education, mathematics

Mathematics Education Resources on the Internet

tags: education, links, mathematics, resources

Mathematical Sciences Education Board

tags: education, mathematics, organization, science

American Mathematical Society

tags: mathematics, organization

2 plus 2: The Home of Mathematically Correct

tags: education, mathematics

The roles of punctuation marks (ESM)

A new online first article has been published by Educational Studies in Mathematics. The article is written by B.M. Brizuela and G.A. Cayton, and it has been called: "The roles of punctuation marks while learning about written numbers". The researchers investigated how children in kindergarten and first grade articulate the meaning of and need for punctuation marks in price lists. Based on their findings, they claim:

These findings provide evidence that children are, in fact, creating
and recreating ideas about different aspects of written numbers such as
the role of punctuation marks before necessarily being able to fully
articulate how written numbers work and before being formally taught,
though they have obviously been exposed from an early age to these
particular aspects of written numbers.

Report on mathematics coursetaking and achievement

Robert Bozick and Steven J. Ingels recently published a report called: Mathematics Coursetaking and Achievement at the End of High School: Evidence from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002).

The report is available as downloadable pdf. I have copied the description of the report below:

This report documents and examines the relationship between the number
and types of math courses taken in the 11th and 12th grade and growth
in mathematics proficiency over the same time period. Using data from
the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002), the analysis
identifies the coursetaking sequences most prevalent among contemporary
high school students in their junior and senior years, sociodemographic
characteristics of the students who follow these course sequences, and
the association between specific courses and course sequences and
mathematics gains over the last two years of high school. Because most
students (94 percent) entered the second half of high school with a
mastery of basic mathematics skills such as simple arithmetic and
operations, most learning during this time was in intermediate-level
mathematics skills and concepts. For example, the percentage of
students with an understanding of simple problem solving skills grew
from 53 to 65 percentage points over the two year period. In terms of
learning in specific content areas, the largest gains in intermediate
skills such as simple operations and problem solving were made by those
who followed the geometry–algebra II sequence. The largest gains in
advanced skills such as derivations and making inferences from
algebraic expressions were made by students who took precalculus paired
with another course. The smallest gains were made by students who took
one mathematics course or no mathematics courses during their last 2
years.

ICMI Study 19: Proof and proving in mathematics education

ZDM published a (online first) discussion document a few days ago, called ICMI Study 19: Proof and proving in mathematics education. It is written by Gila Hanna and Michael de Villiers on behalf of the International Program Committee. The article/discussion document points at the interesting discussion about proofs and proving in mathematics education. At ICME 11, there is going to be a Topic Study Group (TSG-18) on this theme (Perhaps there is a slight mix of numbers here?).

"Algebra in the Early Grades"

This book was published in 2007, but is one of the most interesting new books in mathematics education. The book is edited by James J. Kaput, David W. Carraher and Maria L. Blanton, and it offers a "comprehensive, research based, multi-faceted look at issues in early algebra" (according to the description provided by Google Books). Also check out the description in the NCTM product catalog!

Prominent researcher #1: Hans Freudenthal

I have decided to also use this blog to present some of the most prominent researchers in the field of mathematics education, and what would be more appropriate than to start with one of the giants of the past: Hans Freudenthal.

Hans Freudenthal was born into a Jewish family, September 17, 1905. He was born in Germany (Luckenwalde), and in 1930 he defended a thesis on topological groups at the University of Berlin. The same year, he was invited to Amsterdam as the assistant of LEJ Brouwer.

Early in his career, Freudenthal was involved with topology and algebra, and he also worked on Lie groups for a few years. In his later years, though, he became more and more interested in mathematics education. He wrote several important books and numerous scientific articles in this field.

The Freudenthal Institute in Utrecht, Netherlands, is named after him, and his theories have strongly influenced the Dutch tradition called Realistic Mathematics Edcuation.

Sources

• The Wikipedia article about Hans Freudenthal (feel free to contribute to this - it might use some improvement!)
• The biography at the MacTutor History of Mathematics archive

Some of Freudenthal's books (mathematics education):

• Mathematics as an educational task (1973)
• Weeding and Sowing: Preface to a Science of Mathematical Education (1977)
  
• Didactical Phenomenology of Mathematical Structures (1983)
• Revisiting Mathematics Education: China Lectures (1991)

MES5

Saturday February 16th, the 5th International Conference on Mathematics Education and Society (a.k.a. MES5) starts in Albufeira, Portugal. The conference will address issues like:

• The politics of mathematics education
• Cultural and social aspects of mathematics teaching and learning
• The sociology of mathematics and mathematics education
• Alternative research methodologies in mathematics education

These are interesting questions for all researchers within the field. If you are interested in learning more about the contents of the conference, you should take a look at the programme. Most of the material (articles from plenary lectures, paper/project discussions etc.) are available for download in pdf format!

The plenary lectures are:

1. "Reinventing" Freire: Mathematics Education for Social Transformation (Eric Gutstein, University of Illinois-Chicago, USA)
2. Describing teacher change: Interactions between teacher
   moves and learner contributions (Karin Brodie, University of Witswatersrand, South Africa)
   
3. Equity-in-Quality: Towards a Theoretical Framework (Murad Jurdak, American University of Beirut, Lebanon)
4. Order of the World or Order of the Social. Conceptions of
   Mathematics and Their Importance to Mathematics Education (Ole Ravn Christensen, Aalborg University, Denmark)

Teaching Children Mathematics, February 2008

The February issue of Teaching Children Mathematics presents the following articles:

Tiering and Scaffolding: Two Strategies for Providing Access to Important Mathematics
Lori Williams

Why Math Blogs?
Shirley M. Pyon

Design of Activities on Numerical Representations Based on Cognitive Research
Eleftheria R. Kalifatidou

Mathematics Teaching, January 2008

The January issue of Mathematics Teaching has the following articles under the research section:

A model for multiplication - Heather McLeay

Heather McLeay discusses a visual representation to aid the multiplication of fractions.

Deconstructing calculation methods, part 3: Multiplication - Ian ThompsonBuy MT2063436 for £3

In the third of a series of four articles, Ian Thompson deconstructs the primary national strategy’s approach to written multiplication. The first two articles in this series were published in MT202 and MT204.

Representing multiplication - Tony Harries and Patrick BarmbyBuy MT2063741 for £3

Tony Harries and Patrick Barmby explore the use of visual representations, in particular the array, in the teaching of multiplication in the primary school.

SSM, issue 1, 2008

School Science and Mathematics has the following contents in their first issue this year:

Learning and Assessing Mathematics through Reading and Writing

Michael J. Bossé and Johna Faulconer

Focusing on Units to Support Prospective Elementary Teachers' Understanding of
Division in Fractional Contexts

Hyung Sook Lee & Paola Sztajn

David's Understanding of Functions and Periodicity

Hope Gerson

EJMSTE, issue 1, 2008

The Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education has published their first issue this year. The following articles are related to mathematics education:

Pre-Service Elementary School Teachers’ Learning Styles and Attitudes towards Mathematics
Murat Peker and Seref Mirasyedioglu
[Full Text in PDF] (Size: 244 KB)

The Effects of Mathematics Anxiety on Matriculation Students as Related to Motivation and Achievement
Effandi Zakaria and Norazah Mohd Nordin
[Full Text in PDF] (Size: 158 KB)

Science and Mathematics Teachers’ Experiences, Needs, and Expectations Regarding Professional Development
Kathryn Chval, Sandra Abell, Enrique Pareja, Kusalin Musikul and Gerard Ritzka
[Full Text in PDF] (Size: 291 KB)

JMTE-article about prospective teachers' beliefs

Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education has published a new (online first) interesting article. The title is:

"Investigating changes in prospective teachers’ views of a ‘good teacher’ while engaging in computerized project-based learning", and the article is written by Ilana Lavy and Atara Shriki (both from Israel).

The article is about prospective teachers' beliefs and views about teaching and learning, and the way these beliefs and views affect their teaching once they have finished their studies. The aim of this particular project is to explore the effects of learning via computerised project-based learning. In order to assess the prospective teachers' change in views, the following data was gathered: two open questionnaires, written portfolios, and transcripts of class discussions.

Mathematics Teacher, February issue

Mathematics Teacher has released their February issue, with the following headlines:

Optimization of Cubic Polynomial Functions without Calculus
Ronald D. Taylor Jr. and Ryan Hansen

Are You Connected? Fostering Exploration with Unexpected Graphs
Michael Todd Edwards and Jeffrey A. Reinhardt

Explorations with 142857: Connecting the Elementary with the Advanced
Randall E. Groth

Analyzing Online Discourse to Assess Students’ Thinking
Randall E. Groth

Connecting Students’ Informal Language to More Formal Definitions
Jon D. Davis

Reading Texts and Writing Problems to Improve Problem Solving
Ariana Stanca P. Vacaretu

Poverty: Teaching Mathematics and Social Justice
Leah P. McCoy

Building Intuitive Arguments for the Triangle Congruence Conditions
Katrina Piatek-Jimenez

Beyond Teachers’ Sight Lines: Using Video Modeling to Examine Peer Discourse
Donna Kotsopoulos

The last article is a Free preview article. This is an interesting article on discourse analysis and video models. Check it out!

Mathematics education research links 02/07/2008

Forum for Matematikkens Didaktik

tags: denmark, education, mathematics, research

Center for Forskning i Matematiklæring

tags: denmark, education, mathematics, research

SMDF - Svensk förening för MatematikDidaktisk Forskning

tags: education, mathematics, research, sweden

cmeg-5 The 5th International conference on Creativity in Mathematics

tags: conference, education, mathematics, research

MES5 - Introduction

tags: conference, education, mathematics, research

mathematics+education+research - Google Booksearch

tags: books, education, mathematics, research

IJSME - Number 1, 2008

The March issue of International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education is out, and it displays nine articles:

A Mathematics Teachers’ Perspective and its Relationship to Practice

Authors	Isabel Escudero and Victoria SÁnchez
Text	PDF (272 kb)

Engaging Pre-Service Teachers in Multinational, Multi-Campus Scientific and Mathematical Inquiry

Authors	Jennifer Anne Wilhelm, Walter S. Smith, Kendra L. Walters, Sonya E. Sherrod and Judith Mulholland
Text	PDF (348 kb)

Facilitating Chemistry Teachers to Implement Inquiry-based Laboratory Work

Author	Derek Cheung
Text	PDF (286 kb)

Factors Affecting Teachers’ Adoption of Technology in Classrooms: Does School Size Matter?

Authors	Hsin-Kai Wu, Ying-Shao Hsu and Fu-Kwun Hwang
Text	PDF (288 kb)

Investigating the Guidance Offered to Teachers in Curriculum Materials: The Case of Proof in Mathematics

Author	Gabriel J. Stylianides
Text	PDF (335 kb) HTML

Learning Environment and Attitudes Associated with an Innovative Science Course Designed for Prospective Elementary Teachers

Authors	Catherine Martin-Dunlop and Barry J. Fraser
Text	PDF (359 kb)

Pre-Service Elementary Teachers Bridge the Gap Between Research and Practice

Authors	Susan A. Everett, Gail R. Luera and Charlotte A. Otto
Text	PDF (207 kb)

Taiwan Elementary Teachers’ Views of Science Teaching Self-Efficacy and Outcome Expectations

Authors	Chia-Ju Liu, Brady Michael Jack and Houn-Lin Chiu
Text	PDF (232 kb)

The Classroom Practice of a Prospective Secondary Biology Teacher and His Conceptions of the Nature of Science and of Teaching and Learning Science

Authors	Vicente Mellado, María Luisa Bermejo, Lorenzo J. Blanco and Constantino Ruiz
Text	PDF (298 kb)

ESM - issue 3, 2008

Educational Studies in Mathematics has already published the March issue of this year, with the following articles:

A research framework for creative and imitative reasoning

Author	Johan Lithner
Text	PDF (420 kb) HTML

Conditional inference and advanced mathematical study

Authors	Matthew Inglis and Adrian Simpson
Text	PDF (378 kb) HTML

Investigating the secondary–tertiary transition

Author	Ghislaine Gueudet
Text	PDF (246 kb) HTML

Proofs and refutations in the undergraduate mathematics classroom

Authors	Sean Larsen and Michelle Zandieh
Text	PDF (164 kb) HTML

The completeness property of the set of real numbers in the transition from calculus to analysis

Author	Analía Bergé
Text	PDF (240 kb) HTML

JMTE, issue 1, 2008

Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education is arguably one of the most prestigious journals within our field, and it has just published the first issue of this year. There are five interesting articles in this issue:

Academic mathematics and mathematical knowledge needed in school teaching practice: some conflicting elements

Authors	Plinio C. Moreira and Maria M. David
Text	PDF (257 kb) HTML

Challenges in deepening prospective teachers’ understanding of multiplication through justification

Authors	Jane-Jane Lo, Theresa J. Grant and Judith Flowers
Text	PDF (259 kb) HTML

Developing a communal identity as beginning teachers of mathematics: Emergence of an online community of practice

Authors	Merrilyn E. Goos and Anne Bennison
Text	PDF (202 kb) HTML

Preparing Vietnamese student teachers for teaching with a student-centered approach

Authors	Thuy Nguyen Thanh, Rijkje Dekker and Martin J. Goedhart
Text	PDF (323 kb) HTML

Publishing research on mathematics teacher education

Author	Peter Sullivan
Text	PDF (95 kb) HTML

ZDM, issue 1, 2008

ZDM - The International Journal on Mathematics Education (formerly known as Zentralblatt für Didaktik der Mathematik) has released their first issue of this year, with the theme: "From Patterns to Generalization: Development of Algebraic Thinking". The issue has the following contents (only the titles are displayed here - click on the links to investigate further!):

• Generalization in algebra: the foundation of algebraic thinking and reasoning across the grades
• Early algebra and mathematical generalization
• The effect of different representations on Years 3 to 5 students’ ability to generalise
• Algebraic thinking with and without algebraic representation: a three-year longitudinal study
• Elementary school students engaging in making generalisation: a glimpse from a Singapore classroom
• Middle school children’s cognitive perceptions of constructive and deconstructive generalizations involving linear figural patterns
• Iconicity and contraction: a semiotic investigation of forms of algebraic generalizations of patterns in different contexts
• Seventh-grade students’ representations for pictorial growth and change problems
• “Rising to the challenge”: using generalization in pattern problems to unearth the algebraic skills of talented pre-algebra students
• The role of examples in forming and refuting generalizations
• En route from patterns to algebra: comments and reflections

IJMEST, issue 1, 2008

International Journal of Mathematics Education in Science and Technology has published their first issue this year, and it has the following original articles:

	Upper secondary students' task reasoning pp. 1 – 12 Authors: T. Bergqvist; J. Lithner; L. Sumpter DOI: 10.1080/00207390701464675
	A survey of advanced mathematics topics: a new high school mathematics class pp. 13 – 22 Authors: Carryn Bellomo; Remy Strapp DOI: 10.1080/00207390701368561
	Enhancing Mathematics for Informatics and its correlation with student pass rates pp. 23 – 33 Authors: B. Divjak; Z. Erjavec DOI: 10.1080/00207390601002732
	A simple yet accurate method for students to determine asteroid rotation periods from fragmented light curve data pp. 35 – 59 Author: R. A. Beare DOI: 10.1080/00207390601115120
	Justifying differential derivations when setting up definite integrals pp. 61 – 68 Author: K. Tarvainen DOI: 10.1080/00207390701497774
	The evaluation of the error term in some Gauss-type formulae for the approximation of Cauchy Principal Value integrals pp. 69 – 76 Author: H. V. Smith DOI: 10.1080/00207390701582203
	Some problems and conjectures in number theory pp. 77 – 82 Author: H. K. Pathak DOI: 10.1080/00207390701607240

TMME - January 2008

The first issue of The Montana Mathematics Enthusiast this year includes a forum for "ethics and values in mathematics, teaching and learning". There are also a number of interesting feature articles:

FEATURE ARTICLES
9. Murad Jurdak (Lebanon)
The Action Map as a Tool for Assessing Situated Mathematical Problem Solving Performance	pp.67-78
10. M.K Akinsola (Botswana)
Relationship of some psychological variables in predicting problem solving ability of in-service mathematics teachers	pp.79-100
11. Kristin Umland (New Mexico, USA)
A reflection on mathematical cognition: how far have we come and where are we going?	pp.101-116
12. Yuichi Handa (California, USA)
Reflections upon Teaching a Poorly-Conceived Lesson	pp.117-124
13. Jaehoon Yim, Sanghun Song, Jiwon Kim (South Korea)
Mathematically gifted elementary students' revisiting of Euler's polyhedron theorem	pp.125-142
MONTANA FEATURE ARTICLE
14. David M. Davison and Johanna E. Mitchell (Montana, USA)
How is Mathematics Education Philosophy Reflected in the Math Wars?	pp.143-154

JRME - issue 1, January 2008

Here is a list of contents for this year's first issue of JRME:

• A BRIEF REPORT: An Existence Proof: Successful Joint Implementation of
  the IMP Curriculum and a 4 x 4 Block Schedule at a Suburban U.S. High
  School
  Steven L. Kramer and Regina Keller
• What Students Notice as Different Between Reform and Traditional Mathematics Programs
  Jon R. Star, John P. Smith III and Amanda Jansen
• Teaching and Learning Fraction Addition on Number Lines
  Andrew Izsák, Erik Tillema and Zelha Tunç-Pekkan
• Curriculum Use While Learning to Teach: One Student Teacher’s Appropriation of Mathematics Curriculum Materials
  Gwendolyn M. Lloyd
• BOOK REVIEW: The Three Rs of Social Justice: A Review of Reading and Writing the World with Mathematics: Toward a Pedagogy for Social Justice
  Tonya Gau Bartell and Thomas P. Carpenter

Mathematics education research 02/05/2008

The International Commission on Mathematical Instruction

tags: education, mathematics, research

British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics

tags: education, mathematics, research

Math Forum - Math Education Research

tags: education, mathematics, research, resources

ICME - 11

This year's big event in mathematics education research is undoubtedly the ICME-11 conference in Mexico. I attended the last ICME conference (ICME-10 in Denmark, 2004), and it was a great event. This year, unfortunately, I am not able to come, but I will try and follow the conference on this blog. Mark the dates already: July 6th to 13th in Monterrey, Mexico.

Welcome

There are so many journals, so many conferences, so many web-sites that cover research in mathematics education. This blog will be my humble attempt to cover the most important ones. In the sidebar, you can find feeds from the most important scientific journals in mathematics education research. In this blog, I will comment on new and interesting (to me at least) articles in these and other journals. I will also try to follow some of the most important conferences in mathematics education, as well as sharing interesting bookmarks regarding mathematics education.

I know, this sounds like a huge challenge, and it is! I will, however, do my best to follow up on it, and if anyone else is interested in joining this attempt, I would like to invite you to contribute. This starts off as something I find interesting for myself, but I hope that several colleague researchers and educators will find this attempt interesting as well.