Ebook: Vital Directions for Mathematics Education Research

This book provides a collection of chapters from prominent mathematics educators in which they each discuss vital issues in mathematics education and what they see as viable directions research in mathematics education could take to address these issues. All of these issues are related to learning and teaching mathematics. The book consists of nine chapters, seven from each of seven scholars who participated in an invited lecture series (Scholars in Mathematics Education) at Brigham Young University, and two chapters from two other scholars who are writing reaction papers that look across the first seven chapters. The recommendations take the form of broad, overarching principles and ideas that cut across the field. In this sense, this book differs from classical “research agenda projects,” which seek to outline specific research questions that the field should address around a central topic.

What are the most important questions researchers in Mathematics Education should be trying to answer?

What opportunities and challenges face the Mathematics Education community as we seek to answer them?

In this book, some of the most well-respected researchers in the field of Mathematics Education answer these and other questions and lay forth their visions of the vital directions research should take in the coming decades. Each of the international authors provides a compelling take on critical issues related to improving mathematics teaching and learning. Chapters provide an excellent background on current areas of research, furnishing reasoned rationales for conducting research on particular problems and providing compelling arguments that invite us to rethink our assumptions and priorities.