This volume--the first to bring together research on sociocultural aspects of mathematics education--presents contemporary and international perspectives on social justice and equity issues that impact mathematics education. In particular, it highlights the importance of three interacting and powerful factors--gender, social, and cultural dimensions. Sociocultural Research on Mathematics Education: An International Perspective is distinguished in several ways: * It is research based. Chapters report on significant research projects; present a comprehensive and critical summary of the research findings; and offer a critical discussion of research methods and theoretical perspectives undertaken in the area. * It is future oriented, presenting recommendations for practice and policy and identifying areas for further research. * It deals with all aspects of formal and informal mathematics education and applications and all levels of formal schooling. As the context of mathematics education rapidly changes-- with an increased demand for mathematically literate citizenship; an increased awareness of issues of equity, inclusivity, and accountability; and increased efforts for globalization of curriculum development and research-- questions are being raised more than ever before about the problems of teaching and learning mathematics from a non-cognitive science perspective. This book contributes significantly to addressing such issues and answering such questions. It is especially relevant for researchers, graduate students, and policymakers in the field of mathematics education.

Drawing on sociocultural learning theory, this book offers a groundbreaking theory of secondary mathematics teacher learning in schools, focusing on the transformation of instruction as a conceptual change project to achieve ambitious and equitable mathematics teaching. Despite decades of research showing the importance of ambitious and equitable teaching, few inroads have been made in most U.S. classrooms, and teacher learning in general remains undertheorized in most educational research. Illustrating their theory through closely documented case studies of secondary mathematics teachers’ learning and instructional practices, authors Horn and Garner explore the key conceptual issues teachers are required to work through in order to more fully realize ambitious and equitable teaching in their classrooms. By theorizing teacher learning from a sociocultural perspective and focusing on instructional practice, the authors make a unique contribution to the field of teacher learning. This book offers researchers, scholars, and teacher educators new theoretical and methodological tools for the elusive phenomenon of teacher learning, and provides instructional leaders and coaches with practical examples of how teachers shift their thinking and practice.

International Congresses on Mathematical Education (ICMEs), under the auspices of the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction, are held every four years. Previous Congresses have been held in France (Lyons), England (Exeter), the Federal Republic of Germany (Karlsruhe), and the United States of America (Berkeley). The Fifth International Congress on Mathematical Education (lCME 5) was held in Adelaide, Australia, from August 24-30, 1984. More than 1800 participants from over 70 countries participated in the Congress, while some additional 200 people attended social functions and excursions. The program for ICME 5 was planned and structured by an International Program Committee, and implemented by the National Program Committee in Australia. For the main body of the program, Chief Organisers, assisted by Australian Coordinators, were invited to plan and prepare the individual components of the program which addressed a wide range of topics and interest areas. Each of these teams involved many individuals from around the world in the detailed planning and preparation of the working sessions for their area of program responsibility. For the actual working sessions at the Congress, the smallest group had some 60 members, while the largest had well over 300. In addition to the working sessions, there were three major plenary addresses, several specially invited presentations, and over 420 individual papers in the form of short communications, either as posters or brief talks.

The purpose of this Open Access compendium, written by experienced researchers in mathematics education, is to serve as a resource for early career researchers in furthering their knowledge of the state of the field and disseminating their research through publishing. To accomplish this, the book is split into four sections: Empirical Methods, Important Mathematics Education Themes, Academic Writing and Academic Publishing, and a section Looking Ahead. The chapters are based on workshops that were presented in the Early Career Researcher Day at the 13th International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME-13). The combination of presentations on methodological approaches and theoretical perspectives shaping the field in mathematics education research, as well as the strong emphasis on academic writing and publishing, offered strong insight into the theoretical and empirical bases of research in mathematics education for early career researchers in this field. Based on these presentations, the book provides a state-of-the-art overview of important theories from mathematics education and the broad variety of empirical approaches currently widely used in mathematics education research. This compendium supports early career researchers in selecting adequate theoretical approaches and adopting the most appropriate methodological approaches for their own research. Furthermore, it helps early career researchers in mathematics education to avoid common pitfalls and problems while writing up their research and it provides them with an overview of the most important journals for research in mathematics education, helping them to select the right venue for publishing and disseminating their work.

The aim of this book series is to provide a much needed outlet for the wealth of cross-cultural research that has not impacted upon mainstream education. This particular volume is divided into four parts: the motivation context; the learning context; the family context; and the curriculum context.

This open access book, inspired by the ICME 13 topic study group “Affect, beliefs and identity in mathematics education”, presents the latest trends in research in the area. Following an introduction and a survey chapter providing a concise overview of the state-of-art in the field of mathematics-related affect, the book is divided into three main sections: motivation and values, engagement, and identity in mathematics education. Each section comprises several independent chapters based on original research, as well as a reflective commentary by an expert in the area. Collectively, the chapters present a rich methodological spectrum, from narrative analysis to structural equation modelling. In the final chapter, the editors look ahead to future directions in the area of mathematics-education-related affect. It is a timely resource for all those interested in the interaction between affect and mathematics education.

This book demonstrates how rigorous mathematical thinking can be fostered through the development of students' cognitive tools and operations. This approach seems to be particularly effective with socially disadvantaged and culturally different students. The authors argue that children's cognitive functions cannot be viewed as following a natural maturational path: they should be actively constructed during the educational process. The Rigorous Mathematical Thinking (RMT) model is based on two major theoretical approaches – Vygotsky's theory of psychological tools and Feuerstein's concept of mediated learning experience. The book starts with general cognitive tools that are essential for all types of problem solving and then moves to mathematically specific cognitive tools and methods for utilizing these tools for mathematical conceptual formation. The application of the RMT model in various urban classrooms demonstrates how mathematics education standards can be reached even by the students with a history of educational failure who were considered hopeless underachievers.

This contributed volume explores equity and social justice within the field of mathematics education. In part one, Helga Jungwirth's introductory chapter provides a strong theoretical overview that is based in actual classroom behaviors and a typology that classifies the various interpretations found within this volume. Also in part one, Laurie Hart discusses developments in equity research in the United States. Part two focuses on results of studies about social justice and their impact on learning in mathematics classrooms in various parts of the world. For example, in a chapter on Peru, social justice does not just encompass gender, but also inequalities in opportunities to learn, such as problems of resources, living and social conditions, communal demands and language needs. And, part three focuses on computers as a resource to mathematics teaching. The contributors raise several important social justice issues which have previously remained unresearched. Although there are a number of chapters specifically dealing with gender, many of the authors use one of the following strategies: their gender-specific questions are set in a wider socio-cultural context, they challenge what have threatened to become false orthodoxies, or they raise other important issues. These other issues include the meaning of democratic citizenship for mathematics classrooms, the links between parents and children learning mathematics, and the preconceptions of some teachers of underprivileged students in Australia. Other chapters explore different forms of classroom communication, participation, and assessment. The pieces on computers state that there is still not enough research to conclude whether computers in the mathematics classrooms are supportive of, or detrimental to, the learning of all students. The one thing on which every author in this volume does agree is that social justice in mathematics education has still not been attained, but that we must strive toward it to improve educational practices and society in general.

Mathematics education research has blossomed into many different areas which we can see in the programmes of the ICME conferences as well as in the various survey articles in the Handbooks. However, all of these lines of research are trying to grapple with a common problem, the complexity of the process of learning mathematics. Although our knowledge of the process is more extensive and deeper despite the fragmented nature of research in this area, there is still a need to overcome this fragmentation and to see learning as one process with different aspects. To overcome this fragmentation, this book identifies six themes: (1) mathematics, culture and society, (2) the structure of mathematics and its influence on the learning process, (3) mathematics learning as a cognitive process, (4) mathematics learning as a social process, (5) affective conditions of the mathematics learning process, (6) new technologies and mathematics learning. This book is addressed to all researchers in mathematic education. It gives an orientation and overview by addressing some carefully chosen questions on what is going on and what are the main results and questions what are important books or papers if further information is needed.

This book brings together mathematics education research that makes a difference in both theory and practice - research that anticipates problems and needed knowledge before they become impediments to progress.