Glenda Anthony and Margaret Walshaw (both from New Zealand) have written an article entitled Mathematics Education in the Early Years: building bridges. This article was published in the latest issue of Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood. Here is the abstract of their article:

Aligned with the enhanced international commitment to early childhood education, recognition of the importance of providing young children with opportunities to develop mathematical understandings and skills is increasing. While there is much research about effective mathematics pedagogy in the school sector, less research activity is evident within the early childhood sector. Focused on people, relationships and the learning environment, this article draws on a synthesis of research on effective pedagogical practices to describe effective learning communities that can enhance the development of young children’s mathematical identities and competencies. Concerned that the wider synthesis noted limited cross-sector collaboration within the mathematics education community, this article aims to act as a bridge for researchers currently working within the preschool and school sectors. The authors argue that understandings of effective pedagogies that enhance young children’s mathematics learning will benefit from more cross-sector research studies.

The July issue of Educational Studies in Mathematics has been published. The issue contains six articles:

• Towards new documentation systems for mathematics teachers? by Ghislaine Gueudet and Luc Trouche
• Experiencing equivalence but organizing order, by Amir H. Asghari
• A categorization of the “whys” and “hows” of using history in mathematics education, by Uffe Thomas Jankvist
• Intuitive vs analytical thinking: four perspectives, by Uri Leron and Orit Hazzan
• Using graphing software to teach about algebraic forms: a study of technology-supported practice in secondary-school mathematics, by Kenneth Ruthven, Rosemary Deaney and Sara Hennessy
• Perceptions that may affect teachers’ intention to use technology in secondary mathematics classes, by Robyn Pierce and Lynda Ball

Editor-in-chief of Educational Studies in Mathematics, Norma Presmeg, has made a selection of several articles that have recently been published in the journal and made them free for all to read, download and save. The following articles are freely available until July 31, 2009:

• Learning opportunities from group discussions: Warrants become the objects of debate
  K. Weber, C. Maher, A. Powell, & H. Lee
• Transitions among different symbolic generalizations by algebra beginners in a computer intensive environment
  M. Tabach, A. Arcavi, & R. Hershkowitz
• Abstraction and consolidation of the limit precept by means of instrumented schemes: The complementary role of three different frameworks
  I. Kidron
• Signifying “students”, “teachers” and “mathematics”: A reading of a special issue
  T. Brown
• On semiotics and subjectivity: A response to Tony Brown’s “signifying ‘students’, ‘teachers’ and ‘mathematics’: a reading of a special issue”.
• Cognitive styles, dynamic geometry and measurement performance.
  D. Pitta-Pantazi & C. Christou
• Embodied design: Constructing means for constructing meaning
  D. Abrahamson
• Constructing competence: An analysis of student participation in the activity system of mathematics classrooms
  M. Gresalfi, T. Martin, V. Hand, & J. Greeno
• Teachers’ perspectives on “authentic mathematics” and the two-column proof form
  M. Weiss, P. Herbst, & C. Chen
• From arithmetical thought to algebraic thought: The role of the “variable”
  E. Malisani & F. Spagnolo

Paul Ngee-Kiong Lau, Parmjit Singh and Tee-Yong Hwa have written an article called Constructing mathematics in an interactive classroom context. The article was published online in Educational Studies in Mathematics on Friday. Here is the abstract of their article:

This paper investigates the nature of the interaction between the teacher and students as they worked on different mathematics activities in a single classroom over a 10-month period. Sociocultural theories and the Vygotskian zone of proximal development provide the main framework for examining the teaching and learning processes and explaining the incorporation of a four-phase lesson plan as increasing participation of the teacher and students in the teaching and learning process. Drawing on the analyses of discourse from videotaped lessons and the interviews with the teacher and students, five different types of interactions that emphasized mathematical sense-making and justification of ideas and arguments were identified. Excerpts from transcriptions of such interactions are provided to illustrate the learning practices, either academic or non-academic, that students developed in response to these interactions.

Along with Educational Studies in Mathematics and Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, ZDM has also released the June issue of 2009. This issue is a very interesting (I think) special issue on Exemplary Mathematics Instruction and Its Development in East Asia. Here is a list of the 12 articles contained in this issue:

• Exemplary mathematics instruction and its development in selected education systems in East Asia, by Yeping Li and Yoshinori Shimizu
• Mathematics classroom instruction excellence through the platform of teaching contests, by Yeping Li and Jun Li
• How a Chinese teacher improved classroom teaching in Teaching Research Group: a case study on Pythagoras theorem teaching in Shanghai, by Yudong Yang
• Pursuing excellence in mathematics classroom instruction through exemplary lesson development in China: a case study, by Rongjin Huang and Yeping Li
• Characterizing exemplary mathematics instruction in Japanese classrooms from the learner’s perspective, by Yoshinori Shimizu
• In search of an exemplary mathematics lesson in Hong Kong: an algebra lesson on factorization of polynomials, by Ida Ah Chee Mok
• Characteristics of good mathematics teaching in Singapore grade 8 classrooms: a juxtaposition of teachers’ practice and students’ perception, by Berinderjeet Kaur
• Good mathematics instruction in South Korea, by JeongSuk Pang
• Searching for good mathematics instruction at primary school level valued in Taiwan, by Pi-Jen Lin and Yeping Li
• Exemplary mathematics lessons: what lessons we can learn from them? by Ngai-Ying Wong
• Exemplary mathematics lessons: a view from the West, by Susie Groves
• Book review: Joan B. Garfield and Dani Ben-Zvi: Developing students’ statistical reasoning: connecting research and teaching practice, by Jane Watson

Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education has released the June issue of 2009. As Peter Gates and Robyn Jorgensen reveals in their editorial, this issue is the first of two special issues on social justice and mathematics teacher education. The issue has the subtitle: Theoretical Studies in Social Justice. The other four articles in this issue are:

• Teaching for social justice: exploring the development of student agency through participation in the literacy practices of a mathematics classroom, by Raymond Brown
• Using social semiotics to prepare mathematics teachers to teach for social justice, by Elizabeth de Freitas and Betina Zolkower
• Mathematics in and through social justice: another misunderstood marriage? by Kathleen Nolan
• How to drag with a worn-out mouse? Searching for social justice through collaboration, by Miriam Godoy Penteado and Ole Skovsmose

Educational Studies in Mathematics has released the June issue. This issue – Volume 71, Number 2 – contains 6 articles, including Gail FitzSimons’ “Call for book reviewers“. The other articles in this issue are:

• Comparative studies of mathematics teachers’ observable learning objectives: validating low inference codes, by Paul Andrews
• The role of contextual, conceptual and procedural knowledge in activating mathematical competencies (PISA), by César Sáenz
• Prospective elementary teachers’ motivation to participate in whole-class discussions during mathematics content courses for teachers, by Amanda Jansen
• Using the history of mathematics to induce changes in preservice teachers’ beliefs and attitudes: insights from evaluating a teacher education program, by Charalambos Y. Charalambous, Areti Panaoura and George Philippou
• Mathematical enculturation from the students’ perspective: shifts in problem-solving beliefs and behaviour during the bachelor programme, by Jacob Perrenet and Ruurd Taconis

The article by Perrenet and Taconis is an Open Access article, meaning that it is freely available to everyone, regardless of whether you are a subscriber or not.

Kathleen Nolan has written an article called Mathematics in and through social justice: another misunderstood marriage? This article was published in Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education on Tuesday. Here is the abstract of Nolan’s article:

The current push to marry off mathematics with social justice compels one to ask such critical questions as “What is social justice?” and “How does (or can) mathematics look and act when viewed in/through the lenses of social justice?” Taking a critically reflective approach, this article draws the reader into a discussion of what is amiss in the currently promoted picture-perfect marriage of mathematics and social justice, presenting perspectives on both the content and context of mathematics teaching and learning. In this article, the author’s account of her experience in teaching a mathematics curriculum course for prospective middle years’ teachers highlights a call to re-imagine the relationship between mathematics and social justice as more than a perfunctory integration of a “statistics and figures” approach. The author’s reflections acknowledge the complexity and potentiality of the relationship while challenging current status quo practices and paradigms in mathematics education.