Evaluating educational effectiveness based solely on academic results obscures essential aspects of student development. This study examines the relevance of motivational and affective indicators as complementary criteria for academic effectiveness in mathematics. Six dimensions were analyzed: interest in mathematics, perceived usefulness, perceived difficulty, expectations of success, self-efficacy, and mathematical anxiety. The methodology is based on two validated instruments, supplemented by teacher evaluations. The results confirm the importance of non-cognitive factors: self-efficacy correlates positively with performance and negatively with anxiety and perceived difficulty. Significant gender differences emerge, with boys showing higher self-efficacy than girls. Math anxiety is a major obstacle to learning, particularly for struggling students. This research calls for a broader conceptualization of educational effectiveness that integrates cognitive, motivational, and emotional dimensions to better support all students.
This paper advocates for the teaching and emphasis of derivation and proof in school mathematics asa means to foster deeper conceptual understanding and reduce overreliance on rote memorization. By examiningthe derivation of key geometric formulas-such as the volumes of a cylinder, cone, prism, and pyramid, as well asthe shortest distance between two points on a sphere in latitude and longitude-it demonstrates how students canengage meaningfully with mathematical ideas. Through logical reasoning, spatial visualization, and mathematicalconnections, derivation empowers learners to appreciate mathematics as a coherent and purposeful discipline.The paper calls for an instructional shift toward reasoning-based learning in school curricula to cultivate criticalthinking and lasting comprehension.
This qualitative phenomenological study utilized critical pedagogy as a framework to explore K-12 students’ math anxiety from teachers’ perspectives, the systemic barriers contributing to this anxiety, and the transformative practices that educators implement to promote students’ math learning. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine math teachers with an average of 17 years of teaching experience in diverse, urban, or Title I schools. A reflexive thematic analysis was applied, revealing that teachers clearly understood their students’ math anxiety and the systemic challenges contributing to it. This study found that students’ math avoidance behavior, their lack of cumulative math learning, shortage of qualified math teachers, families with low-socioeconomic status, high-stakes testing, and lack of transformative practices were perceived as the reasons for math anxiety by the teachers. This finding suggests targeted professional development for math teachers to enhance their skills in developing students’ agency and sense of belonging to challenge systemic barriers.
Many preservice teachers (PSTs) suffer from math anxiety. This article addresses this phenomenon and offers a tool with concrete strategies to engage PSTs in conversations to build confidence and empower their future teaching. The objectives of the conversations include: (1) articulating beliefs about mathematics, (2) recognizing the impact of previous experiences with mathematical contexts; and (3) building confidence in understanding and applying mathematical concepts. Reflections from PSTs underscore the pivotal role of conversations within a supportive environment in reshaping beliefs about mathematics and addressing math anxiety in both present practice and future classrooms.
One of our favorite face-to-face teaching frameworks is “Launch, Explore, Summarize” (LES). However, transitioning LES activities to online settings challenged us to reimagine how learning and its interactions could be supported in this new environment. We explore our experience transitioning an LES lesson on the quadrilateral hierarchy to a synchronous platform in an online geometry course for middle school teachers. We describe how constructivism provided a foundation for our choices, how we navigated the interactions that arose, and the valuable learning opportunities that resulted from these interactions. Our work suggests the promise of LES as an instructional method in online mathematics teacher education.
Reflective and formative assessments are commonly used in both K-12 and higher education but are less common in university mathematics courses. In fact, much of mathematics education seems to be heavily reliant on summative assessments. In this article, we introduce a formative assessment in the frame of a reflective homework system that can be modified and implemented across the mathematics curriculum. We then report on a survey that we administered in the traditional university undergraduate calculus sequence that we designed to measure student attitude and perception of this reflective assessment. We hope that this study encourages faculty at other institutions to implement such assessments in their mathematics courses.
Social justice in mathematics education remains a critical concern. Despite growing awareness, progress has been insufficient. Mathematics education plays a pivotal role in fostering social justice through creativity, critical thinking, innovation, and collaborative problem-solving. However, existing curriculum, teaching practices, and assessments reveal significant shortcomings. This review-based argument highlights four critical areas—prospects, priorities, processes, and problems—aimed at creating a socially just environment with equitable access to high-quality mathematics for all students. The authors emphasize the interrelatedness of social justice within these criteria to promote equity, access, and empowerment in mathematics education.
As online spaces for mathematics content and lesson plans become more accessible, teachers are exploring these websites to make decisions about instructional materials for their courses. These resources then have an impact on what is enacted in the classroom and what opportunities students have to learn mathematics. One of the most popular online spaces teachers frequent is Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT). Using the Remillard and Heck’s model on curriculum enactment, this study investigates secondary mathematics teachers’ decision-making process and the heuristics they rely on when choosing mathematics content from online spaces, namely TpT due to its extensive use by educators. Findings suggest that these participants exhibit reliance on the availability, representativeness, anchoring and adjustment, and groupthink heuristics.
Early career mathematics education scholars face several challenges as they navigate academia. Some of these challenges relate to disparities in access to information and encouragement to apply to certain opportunities. In this paper, a diverse group of early career mathematics education scholars presents programs that have supported their work. The purpose of the paper is to serve as a repository of some of these programs for advisors, mentors, and scholars. Based on their experience securing these opportunities, the authors also offer advice and encouragement for future applicants. Ultimately, the paper contributes to demystifying academia and facilitating the search for opportunities for those joining the field.
Using the United States data from the 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, which included a total of 9924 randomly selected students in grade eight from 325 randomly selected schools, the present study examined the relationship between the students’ attitudes toward mathematics and the mathematics achievement of the students. Due to the hierarchical structure of the educational data, multilevel statistical modeling was used to analyze the data. While including sex and parent education level as student-level control variables and school location and school socioeconomic status as school-level control variables, the students’ attitudes toward mathematics demonstrated significant positive effects on the students’ mathematics achievement. Furthermore, this relationship was shown to vary significantly across schools; however, school disciplinary climate was not found to be a significant contributor to this variation.
Assessment literacy is the knowledge and skills one needs to develop and practice in order to investigate what students know and can do, interpret the results of assessment, and use such results to decide how to improve learning effectively. This study explored pre-service teachers’ assessment literacy and the implications thereof for the teaching and learning of mathematics. Three second year pre-service teachers enrolled for Diploma in education consented to participate in the study. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews and analysed using thematic analysis. Findings revealed while pre-service teachers’ conceive assessment as an ongoing process aimed at gathering information about students’ learning their conception is more grounded on assessment being summative. While the study only focused on pre-service teachers’ conception, we recommend that pre-service teachers’ classroom assessment practice should be investigated, to ascertain how their knowledge of assessment informs their classroom practices.
