NCTM journal: Teaching Children Mathematics has published the April issue of this year, and it has the following contents (articles):

<!– Alice in Numberland: Through the Standards in Wonderland
Donna Christy, Karen Lambe, Christine Payson, Patricia Carnevale and Debra Scarpelli –> Alice in Numberland: Through the Standards in Wonderland by Donna Christy, Karen Lambe, Christine Payson, Patricia Carnevale and Debra Scarpelli
<!– Learning Our Way to One Million
David J. Whitin –> Learning Our Way to One Million by David J. Whitin
<!– Problem-Solving Support for English Language Learners
Lynda R. Wiest –> Problem-Solving Support for English Language Learners by Lynda R. Wiest (free preview article)

Educational Studies in Mathematics recently published an article called: “From static to dynamic mathematics: historical and representational perspectives“. The article is written by Luis Moreno-Armella, Stephen J. Hegedus and James J. Kaput. The point of departure for this article is the issue of new digital technologies, their capacities, issues concerning design and use of them, etc. They build upon one of Kaput’s works on notations and representations, in order to:

In the article they present some interesting perspectives on the historical development on media, from static to dynamic, and they discuss some dynamical perspectives related to variation and geometry (dynamic geometry, like Cabri, Geometer’s Sketchpad, etc.). Here is the abstract of this interesting article:

International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology has published their third issue (of 8) this year. In the table of contents, we find the following original articles:

A new article has been published online at Educational Studies in Mathematics. The article is entitled: “The role of scaling up research in designing for and evaluating robustness“, and it is written by J. Roschelle, D. Tatar, N. Shechtman and J. Knudsen. Here is the abstract of the article:

The full title of this new ZDM article is: “When, how, and why prove theorems? A methodology for studying the perspective of geometry“, and it is written by P. Herbst and T. Miyakawa.

Every theorem has a proof, but not every theorem presented in schools (not only in the U.S., although this is the focus of the article). Why is that? Here is the abstract of the article, which truly raises some important questions:

Megan E. Staples wrote an article called: “Promoting student collaboration in a detracked, heterogeneous secondary mathematics classroom“. The article was published online in Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education on Wednesday. Here is the abstract of the article:

Several researchers have addressed the issue of collaboration and group work, and Staples analyzes the role of one teacher in this respect. Staples observed 39 lessons in the study, and data was collected through field notes, reflective memos, and 26 lessons were also video-taped. She also conducted interviews with most of the students and the teacher, and she collected curriculum documents, etc. During the data analysis, four categories emerged that were critical for understanding the teacher’s role (p. 8):

1. Promoting individual and group accountability
2. Promoting positive sentiment among group members
3. Supporting student–student exchanges with tools and resources
4. Supporting student mathematical inquiry in direct interaction with groups

These categories are used as point of departure for the organization and presentations of the results in the article.

The classroom is a complex system, and this is something Staples discuss a lot in the article. Understanding this complexity and being able to analyze it, is something she emphasizes as being important for both future and current teachers.

And interesting article. In the theoretical foundations, she refers (among others) to the works of researchers like E. Cohen and J. Boaler.