Math Class

Sparked by observing teachers struggle to implement rich mathematics tasks to engage students in deep thinking, Peter Liljedahl has translated his 15 years of research into this practical guide on how to move toward a thinking classroom. Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics, Grades K-12 helps teachers implement 14 optimal practices for thinking that create an ideal setting for deep mathematics learning to occur.

In the Moment offers research-based guidance for conferring with your students in math. Jen Munson explains how, in just a few minutes, a math conference provides opportunities for supporting productive struggle, helping students grow their ideas, and differentiating instruction.

Most of the top jobs for the future require students to have a strong foundational understanding of mathematics. Our failure to mathematically educate most students in general, and students of color in particular, is bad not only for these students individually but also for our society. In Choosing to See, Pamela Seda and Kyndall Brown offer a substantive, rigorous, and necessary set of interventions to move mathematics education toward greater equity, particularly in serving the needs of Black and Brown students, who are underrepresented and underserved as math scholars.

Do your carefully planned lessons feel unsuccessful? "I've tried everything," you think. "Shouldn't math be a little more engaging?" Ilana Seidel Horn understands your frustration. Participating in math class feels socially risky to students. Staying silent often feels safer. In Motivated, Ilana shows why certain teaching strategies create classroom climates where students want to join in.

American democracy is at risk. Fueled by partisan news and emotion-stoking social media, Americans are becoming less and less able to think rationally about the challenges facing the country. For self-governance to succeed, citizens must analyze issues objectively, engage with one another respectfully, and ground their disagreements in reason and facts. At this precarious moment in our history, we need a renaissance in critical thinking. It can start in the math classroom.