In Democracy and Mathematics Education, Kurt Stemhagen and Catherine Henney develop a way of thinking about the nature and purposes of math that is inclusive, participatory, and thoroughly human. They use these ideas to create a school mathematics experience that can enhance students' math abilities and democratic potential. They locate mathematics' origins in human activity and highlight the rich but often overlooked links between mathematical activity and democratic, social practices. Democratic mathematics education foregrounds student inquiry and brings to light the moral dimensions of a discipline that has both remarkable utility and inevitable limitations. For math educators, the book's humanities approach helps to see the subject anew. For philosophers, it provides an important real world context for wrestling with perennial and timely questions, engaging democratic and evolutionary theory to transform school math. This alternative approach to mathematics and mathematics education provides a guide for how to use math to make democracy a larger part of school and wider social life. 2021 Winner of the AESA Critics' Choice Book Award.

In Democracy and Mathematics Education, Kurt Stemhagen and Catherine Henney develop a way of thinking about the nature and purposes of math that is inclusive, participatory, and thoroughly human. They use these ideas to create a school mathematics experience that can enhance students' math abilities and democratic potential. They locate mathematics' origins in human activity and highlight the rich but often overlooked links between mathematical activity and democratic, social practices. Democratic mathematics education foregrounds student inquiry and brings to light the moral dimensions of a discipline that has both remarkable utility and inevitable limitations. For math educators, the book's humanities approach helps to see the subject anew. For philosophers, it provides an important real world context for wrestling with perennial and timely questions, engaging democratic and evolutionary theory to transform school math. This alternative approach to mathematics and mathematics education provides a guide for how to use math to make democracy a larger part of school and wider social life. 2021 Winner of the AESA Critics' Choice Book Award.

What's happened to the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division you learned in school? And why are your children talking in math class and sharing answers? In friendly, jargon-free language, It's Elementary: A Parent's Guide to K-5 Mathematics not only decodes current teaching practices but also demystifies the fundamental concepts that your children need to understand to be successful math learners-and you need to grasp to help them. Illustrated with numerous examples of real students' classroom work, It's Elementary shows you how children progress in their mathematical thinking from simple counting techniques to sophisticated strategies for adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing whole numbers, integers, fractions, and decimals. You will discover why- today's teaching emphasizes understanding why a solution works as well as how to solve the problem; problem solving produces more confident, creative, and accurate math students than memorizing formulas does; practice and drills can be great tools-but only at the right stage of learning; and collaborative learning-talking and sharing-not only helps children clarify their own thoughts about math but also introduces them to new ideas and strategies. Most important, It's Elementary makes you an effective participant in your children's math education. "Things to Do" at the end of each chapter offers practical actions and activities, and a special chapter, "Mathematics at Home," provides advice and guidance from helping with homework and dealing with math anxiety to choosing math games and talking to your children about math beyond homework and school. It's Elementary: A Parent's Guide to K-5 Mathematics is your all-in-one source for helping you to help your children be successful-and happy-math students.