Teacher Practice

Computational thinking CT is central to computer science, yet there is a gap in the literature on the best ways to implement CT in early childhood classrooms. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how early childhood teachers enacted asset-based pedagogies while implementing CT in their classrooms.

This conceptual paper presents a framework for supporting multilingual students’ mathematical discourse through teacher professional development grounded in design-based research (DBR). Drawing on sociocultural learning theory, the Integrated Language and Mathematics Project (ILMP) was co-developed with elementary educators to promote integrated instruction that simultaneously advances students’ mathematical understanding, language development, and cultural identity. The ILMP framework centers around three instructional pillars: attention to language, attention to mathematical thinking, and cultural responsiveness. Through collaborative inquiry cycles, educators engaged as learners, contributors, and designers of practice, iteratively enacting and reflecting on instructional strategies rooted in students’ linguistic and cultural assets.

Fostering student engagement with mathematical reasoning and proving requires a special kind of teacher knowledge – Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching Proof (MKT-P). One important component of MKT-P is Knowledge of Content and Teaching specific to Proof (KCT-P), which is knowledge of pedagogical practices for supporting student learning of proof. Providing effective feedback on students' mathematical arguments is one of the key aspects of KCT-P. This study examined the qualitative differences in written feedback of secondary teachers, undergraduate mathematics and computer science majors, and pre-service teachers participating in a capstone course focused on mathematical reasoning and proving.

Grounded in a vision of teaching that is responsive to children’s mathematical thinking, we investigated connections between teachers’ expertise in noticing children’s thinking and their centering of children’s thinking in whole-class discussions. This study provides insight into the importance of expertise in teacher noticing for whole-class discussions while also illustrating the mathematical and pedagogical richness of the details of children’s mathematical thinking.

There is a need for research on effective classroom strategies available for teachers that promote equitable school-family collaborations. Such effective strategies are needed in general but also specifically in the area of content, skill acquisition, and positive dispositions in early mathematics. This exploratory qualitative study looked at a mathematical routine, focused on family-provided photos and artifacts, that elicited children’s mathematical and general observations and inquiries and engaged families in mathematical communications.

There is a need for research on effective classroom strategies available for teachers that promote equitable school-family collaborations. Such effective strategies are needed in general but also specifically in the area of content, skill acquisition, and positive dispositions in early mathematics. This exploratory qualitative study looked at a mathematical routine, focused on family-provided photos and artifacts, that elicited children’s mathematical and general observations and inquiries and engaged families in mathematical communications.

There is a need for research on effective classroom strategies available for teachers that promote equitable school-family collaborations. Such effective strategies are needed in general but also specifically in the area of content, skill acquisition, and positive dispositions in early mathematics. This exploratory qualitative study looked at a mathematical routine, focused on family-provided photos and artifacts, that elicited children’s mathematical and general observations and inquiries and engaged families in mathematical communications.

There is a need for research on effective classroom strategies available for teachers that promote equitable school-family collaborations. Such effective strategies are needed in general but also specifically in the area of content, skill acquisition, and positive dispositions in early mathematics. This exploratory qualitative study looked at a mathematical routine, focused on family-provided photos and artifacts, that elicited children’s mathematical and general observations and inquiries and engaged families in mathematical communications.

Efforts towards providing inclusive science and mathematics education for marginalized students are increasingly found in literature advocating for equity-oriented instruction through supporting students’ critical consciousness. Despite a growing body of research centering on teachers’ development of culturally relevant pedagogies, studies examining how teachers support students’ critical consciousness development are scarce in the context of science and mathematics education. Thus, this systematic review uses empirical literature on critical consciousness to explore teachers’ experiences integrating sociopolitical issues into their science and mathematics classrooms.

Research on teachers’ noticing of student mathematical thinking has typically focused on how a teacher attends to, interprets, and determines a response to an individual student contribution in isolation from the broader mathematical classroom context. This research focus is not nuanced enough, however, to fully account for the complex noticing required of a teacher engaged in responsive teaching. To support teachers in enacting responsive teaching, it is important to have a way to distinguish high-leverage student contributions from among the many contributions available to a teacher. We draw on a previously developed framework to help teachers identify such contributions, those referred to as a mathematically significant pedagogical opportunity to build on student thinking (MOST).