"If a 6-month-old can distinguish between 20 dots and 10 dots, she's more likely to be a good at math in preschool. That's the conclusion of a new study, which finds that part of our proficiency at addition and subtraction may simply be something we're born with."

Growing open educational resources platform featuring online texts in maths and physics (so far!)

Article discusses the effect of subtle messages communicated to children through adults' anxiety about math and science abilities

Several photos of Robert Wexler's work, also featured in the recent Money issue of the New Yorker.

Concludes from research studies involving five-year-old school children in Dubai that iPads help improve numeracy learning in young children as well as increase motivation through "kinaesthetic and play-based learning":"

2013 memoir by Edward Frenkel chronicling his journey from the Soviet Union (where he was prevented from studying at Moscow State University) to teaching at Harvard and University of California, and the role and centrality of mathematics in his life. Subtitled the Heart of Hidden Reality

Highlights "Real World Math," lessons based on Google Earth focusing on students in grades 5-10

An approach with high school students that combines problem solving and skill building

After an 11-year interval math still tops the overall poll, though results vary by gender, educational attainment and political ideology

Abstract: "Middle school students lack efficient problem solving skills due to several factors. The writing process has been linked to the development of students' problem solving skills. The present study investigated the impact of the writing process on the mathema tical problem solving skills for middle grades students. N = 96 students participated in a six weeks, after school STEM program, and they were randomly assigned into two groups: one focused on the writing process with mathematical problem solving and the o ther on homework/high stakes test preparation with mathematical problem solving. In this quantitative study, the results provide evidence that the students from the writing process group were more likely to generate and apply better problem solving skills as compared to the control group. This study further contributes to the support and importance of integrating different subjects across the generalized learning realm"

Review of a children's book published in 2013

Description: "The Innovation Fund is a challenge for educators, student teams, gamers, programmers, and anyone who has a great idea to create fun and engaging math educational media. WGBH Educational Foundation is seeking up to 100 educational media digital resources (videos, games, interactives, infographics, and manipulatives) that are directed towards middle school students and loosely aligned with the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. The digital resources selected will be showcased on PBS LearningMedia as part of a middle school math resource collection. WGBH is looking for content that engages a wide range of students by reflecting a wide range of culturally responsive perspectives and learning styles. Digital resources should be engaging, rich in content and context, and go beyond strictly procedural teaching. In other words, no talking heads."

Abstract: "Human adults from diverse cultures share intuitions about the points, lines, and figures of Euclidean geometry. Do children develop these intuitions by drawing on phylogenetically ancient and developmentally precocious geometric representations that guide their navigation and their analysis of object shape? In what way might these early-arising representations support later-developing Euclidean intuitions? To approach these questions, we investigated the relations among young children's use of geometry in tasks assessing: navigation; visual form analysis; and the interpretation of symbolic, purely geometric maps. Children's navigation depended on the distance and directional relations of the surface layout and predicted their use of a symbolic map with targets designated by surface distances. In contrast, children's analysis of visual forms depended on the size-invariant shape relations of objects and predicted their use of the same map but with targets designated by corner angles. Even though the two map tasks used identical instructions and map displays, children's performance on these tasks showed no evidence of integrated representations of distance and angle. Instead, young children flexibly recruited geometric representations of either navigable layouts or objects to interpret the same spatial symbols. These findings reveal a link between the early-arising geometric representations that humans share with diverse animals and the flexible geometric intuitions that give rise to human knowledge at its highest reaches. Although young children do not appear to integrate core geometric representations, children's use of the abstract geometry in spatial symbols such as maps may provide the earliest clues to the later construction of Euclidean geometry. "

"A large majority of middle school math teachers say the common core is more rigorous than their state's prior mathematics standards. At the same time, most teachers reported receiving fewer than 20 hours of professional development over the past year related to the common core"

A collection of 33 papers presented at the CICM in Bath, UK, July 2013 (full access by purchase or subscription.)

"Schoolhouse Rock may be the standard for music-based educational videos, but YouTube is leading the renaissance of educational songs and dances. Using music as a lure for educational content isn't new, but it's being widely adopted, thanks to the accessible and sharable nature of YouTube."

Against a background of math's beauty and ubiquity, the writer delivers a critique of math teaching in higher education

In defense of mathematics and mathematical literacy

Includes a section on math apps for different grade levels

Research study at Michigan State University shows how developing spatial reasoning in young children (6-8) improves calculation