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The Constantly Underestimated Challenge of Improving Mathematics Instruction

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Vital Directions for Mathematics Education Research

Abstract

Many U.S. efforts to improve mathematics learning opportunities for ­students have not made it through the classroom door. Teaching is the single common pathway along which improvements reach students. But mathematics teaching has not changed much over the past century. Why is teaching so hard to change? The reasons seem to lie in an incomplete understanding of why mathematics teaching looks like it does, what aspects of teaching should change, and how teachers learn to teach mathematics in different ways. Examining these issues reveals a number of challenging research agendas.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Delaware, 107 Willard Hall, Newark, DE, 19716, USA

    James Hiebert

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  1. James Hiebert
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Correspondence to James Hiebert .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Mathematics Education, Brigham Young University, 167 TMCB, Provo, 84602-6537, Utah, USA

    Keith R Leatham

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Hiebert, J. (2013). The Constantly Underestimated Challenge of Improving Mathematics Instruction. In: Leatham, K. (eds) Vital Directions for Mathematics Education Research. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6977-3_3

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