To learn math, students must build a mental toolbox of facts and procedures needed for different problems. But students who can recall these foundational facts in isolation often struggle to use them ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Linda Darling-Hammond is an expert on education research and policy. This blog was updated on June 24, 2026 to clarify a statistic ...

As a mathematics education researcher, I study how math instruction impacts students' learning, from following standard math procedures to understanding mathematical concepts. Focusing on the latter, ...

Few elementary education programs give future teachers enough exposure to foundational math concepts, like number sense and algebraic reasoning, before they reach the classroom. That’s the upshot of a ...

When completing math problems, students often have to show their work. It’s a method teachers use to catch errors in thinking, to make sure students are grasping mathematical concepts correctly. New ...

In DeKalb County, Ala., elementary school math classes have gotten noisy. In a good way. Instead of worksheets and textbooks, children practice adding and subtracting with tiny toy bears. They ...

When Eric Weber, professor and chair of mathematics at Iowa State University, talks about data science with future math teachers, he doesn't begin with code, algorithms, or buzzwords. Instead, he asks ...

BALTIMORE -- Imagine you're a character in a math problem. You have three platters, but two cakes. All three platters need to have the same amount of cake. How would you split it? Without even saying ...

Imagine you’re a character in a math problem. You have three platters, but two cakes. All three platters need to have the same amount of cake. How would you split it? Without even saying the word ...