The purpose of this book is to collect, organize and disseminate collective wisdom with respect to designing, conducting, and publishing quality research in mathematics education. This wisdom will be gleaned from among those who, over the past several decades, have been instrumental in guiding the field in the pursuit of excellence in mathematics education research—insightful editors, educative reviewers, prolific writers, and caring mentors. Each chapter is written to the novice researcher with the intent of aiding them in avoiding common pitfalls, navigating difficult intellectual terrain, and understanding that they are not alone in experiencing rejection, frustration, confusion, and doubt. This book differs from existing literature in the sense that it is written about the enterprise of designing, conducting and publishing research in mathematics education as opposed to being reports of the results of such work. It also differs in the sense that it is written with the intent to mentor the rising generation as opposed to capture the state of the field (as would happen in a handbook, for example). It is written for the express purpose of helping the field work collectively to aid in the often isolated enterprise of mentoring new researchers. The primary audience is a potentially wide one: graduate students, novice researchers, graduate faculty, advisors, and mentors – or anyone seeking to improve their own abilities to design, conduct, and publish quality research in mathematics education.

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.

This volume focuses on research related to mathematics curriculum. But rather than focusing on results of research, it focuses on lessons learned about conducting research on curriculum, whether about design and development, analysis of curriculum in the form of official standards or textbook instantiations, teacher intentions related to curriculum implementation, or actual classroom enactment. For scholars interested in curriculum research, the volume offers lessons about conducting curriculum research that have been learned by others engaged in such work, including frameworks, tools, and techniques, as well as challenges and issues faced, with solutions to address them. Sharing lessons from authors of different countries strengthens the broader mathematics research community and provides insights that can help researchers make important strides forward in research on mathematics curriculum.

Schools are constantly under pressure to keep up with the pace of changes in society. In parallel, societal demands for what schools should teach are also constantly changing; often driven by political agendas, ideologies, or parental pressures, to add global competency, digital literacy, data literacy, environmental literacy, media literacy, social-emotional skills, etc. This “curriculum expansion” puts pressure on policy makers and schools to add new contents to already crowded curriculum.

This book is about scientific inquiry. Designed for early and mid-career researchers, it is a practical manual for conducting and communicating high-quality research in (mathematics) education. Based on the authors’ extensive experience as researchers, as mentors, and as members of the editorial team for the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education (JRME), this book directly speaks to researchers and their communities about each phase of the process for conceptualizing, conducting, and communicating high-quality research in (mathematics) education. In the late 2010s, both JRME and Educational Studies in Mathematics celebrated 50 years of publishing high-quality research in mathematics education. Many advances in the field have occurred since the establishment of these journals, and these anniversaries marked a milestone in research in mathematics education. Indeed, fifty years represents a small step for human history but a giant leap for mathematics education. The educational research community in general (and the mathematics education community in particular) has strongly advocated for original research, placing great emphasis on building knowledge and capacity in the field. Because it is an interdisciplinary field, mathematics education has integrated means and methods for scientific inquiry from multiple disciplines. Now that the field is gaining maturity, it is a good time to take a step back and systematically consider how mathematics education researchers can engage in significant, impactful scientific inquiry.

This volume documents a range of qualitative research approaches emerged within mathematics education over the last three decades, whilst at the same time revealing their underlying methodologies. Continuing the discussion as begun in the two 2003 ZDM issues dedicated to qualitative empirical methods, this book presents astate of the art overview on qualitative research in mathematics education and beyond. The structure of the book allows the reader to use it as an actual guide for the selection of an appropriate methodology, on a basis of both theoretical depth and practical implications. The methods and examples illustrate how different methodologies come to life when applied to a specific question in a specific context. Many of the methodologies described are also applicable outside mathematics education, but the examples provided are chosen so as to situate the approach in a mathematical context.

This third edition of the Handbook of International Research in Mathematics Education provides a comprehensive overview of the most recent theoretical and practical developments in the field of mathematics education. Authored by an array of internationally recognized scholars and edited by Lyn English and David Kirshner, this collection brings together overviews and advances in mathematics education research spanning established and emerging topics, diverse workplace and school environments, and globally representative research priorities. New perspectives are presented on a range of critical topics including embodied learning, the theory-practice divide, new developments in the early years, educating future mathematics education professors, problem solving in a 21st century curriculum, culture and mathematics learning, complex systems, critical analysis of design-based research, multimodal technologies, and e-textbooks. Comprised of 12 revised and 17 new chapters, this edition extends the Handbook’s original themes for international research in mathematics education and remains in the process a definitive resource for the field.

In this well-illustrated book the authors, Sinan Kanbir, Ken Clements, and Nerida Ellerton, tackle a persistent, and universal, problem in school mathematics—why do so many middle-school and secondary-school students find it difficult to learn algebra well? What makes the book important are the unique features which comprise the design-research approach that the authors adopted in seeking a solution to the problem. The first unique feature is that the authors offer an overview of the history of school algebra. Despite the fact that algebra has been an important component of secondary-school mathematics for more than three centuries, there has never been a comprehensive historical analysis of factors influencing the teaching and learning of that component. The authors identify, through historical analysis, six purposes of school algebra: (a) algebra as a body of knowledge essential to higher mathematical and scientific studies, (b) algebra as generalized arithmetic, (c) algebra as a prerequisite for entry to higher studies, (d) algebra as offering a language and set of procedures for modeling real-life problems, (e) algebra as an aid to describing structural properties in elementary mathematics, and (f) algebra as a study of variables. They also raise the question whether school algebra represents a unidimensional trait. Kanbir, Clements and Ellerton offer an unusual hybrid theoretical framework for their intervention study (by which seventh-grade students significantly improved their elementary algebra knowledge and skills). Their theoretical frame combined Charles Sanders Peirce’s triadic signifier-interpretant-signified theory, which is in the realm of semiotics, with Johann Friedrich Herbart’s theory of apperception, and Ken Clements’ and Gina Del Campo’s theory relating to the need to expand modes of communications in mathematics classrooms so that students engage in receptive and expressive modes. Practicing classroom teachers formed part of the research team. This book appears in Springer’s series on the “History of Mathematics Education.” Not only does it include an important analysis of the history of school algebra, but it also adopts a theoretical frame which relies more on “theories from the past,” than on contemporary theories in the field of mathematics education. The results of the well-designed classroom intervention are sufficiently impressive that the study might havecreated and illuminated a pathway for future researchers to take.

Education has continued to grow in stature and significance as an academic discipline. In addition to world renowned research studies the growth of education has been seen in the methodology and methods underpinning its research. The BERA/SAGE Handbook of Educational Research provides a cutting edge account of the research and methodology that is creating new understandings for education research, policy and practice. Over two volumes, the handbook addresses educational research in six essential components: Section 1: Understanding Research Section 2: Planning Research Section 3: Approaches to Research Section 4: Acquiring Data Section 5: Analysing Data Section 6: Reporting, Disseminating and Evaluating Research Featuring contributions from more than 50 of the biggest names in the international field, The BERA/SAGE Handbook of Educational Research represents a very significant contribution to the development of education.

Design is a central activity within Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. Within enacted practice, design can feature within intended learning outcomes, for example in learning to design, and it can feature within pedagogical methodologies, for example by learning through design. Often holding differing disciplinary interpretations such as design as cyclical problem solving, iterative design, conceptual design, or design with or without make, understanding the educational merits of the ill-defined and open nature of authentic designerly activity is paramount. This Research Topic sets out to gain a more nuanced understanding of the value and role(s) of design within STEM educational contexts. This Research Topic focuses on design within STEM educational contexts, particularly in terms of teaching, learning, and assessment. The aim is to contribute to the evidential basis which can be used to guide the incorporation of design into educational practice. The topic has two central research objectives. The first is to generate evidence regarding what design is in STEM education. For example, is the ability to design a singular or manifold construct? Is the capacity to design, or are factors of this ability, both learnable and teachable? How transferable is designerly knowledge between contexts? How do different disciplinary contexts influence the interpretation of design? The second is to further our understanding of how best to incorporate design within STEM education contexts. For example, how much emphasis should be placed on learning to or through design in school? How should design be assessed within formal education? Where and when is design best incorporated into education? In posing these questions, the goal of this research topic is to provide scholarly discourse which supports critical reflection and the challenging of assumptions regarding design in education.