Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics, Grades K-12: 14 Teaching Practices for Enhancing Learning, Dec/2020

A thinking student is an engaged student

Teachers often find it difficult to implement lessons that help students go beyond rote memorization and repetitive calculations. In fact, institutional norms and habits that permeate all classrooms can actually be enabling “non-thinking” student behavior. Sparked by observing teachers struggle to implement rich mathematics tasks to engage students in deep thinking, Peter Liljedahl has translated his 15 years of research into this practical guide on how to move toward a thinking classroom. Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics, Grades K–12 helps teachers implement 14 optimal practices for thinking that create an ideal setting for deep mathematics learning to occur. This guide

1. Provides the what, why, and how of each practice and answers teachers’ most frequently asked questions
2. Includes firsthand accounts of how these practices foster thinking through teacher and student interviews and student work samples
3. Offers a plethora of macro moves, micro moves, and rich tasks to get started
4. Organizes the 14 practices into four toolkits that can be implemented in order and built on throughout the year.

When combined, these unique research-based practices create the optimal conditions for learner-centered, student-owned deep mathematical thinking and learning, and have the power to transform mathematics classrooms like never before.

About the Author:

Dr. Peter Liljedahl is a Professor of Mathematics Education at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. He is the current president of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG), past-president of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (IGPME), editor of the International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education (IJSME), on the editorial board of five major international journals, and a member of the NCTM Research Committee. Peter has authored or co-authored numerous books, book chapters, and journal articles on topics central to the teaching and learning of mathematics. He is a former high school mathematics teacher who has kept his research close to the classroom and consults regularly with teachers, schools, school districts, ministries of education, and universities on issues of teaching and learning, assessment, and numeracy. Peter is a sought-after presenter who has given talks all over the world on the topic of Building Thinking Classrooms, for which he has won the Cmolik Prize for the Enhancement of Public Education and the Fields Institute’s Margaret Sinclair Memorial Award for Innovation and Excellence in Mathematics Education.