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Review of Literature 
Teaching Mathematics 
Literacy and numeracy are cornerstones in 
the U.S. Department of Education’s No Child 
Left Behind policy. Improving the quality of 
mathematics teaching and learning hinges on 
access to sound evidence regarding what 
teachers do with students to promote the 
development of learners’ mathematical 
proficiency and understanding, rather than 
concentrating instruction in activities such as 
recalling facts and applying well-rehearsed 
procedures to answer simple questions 
(Bransford et al., 2000; Silver et al., 2009; 
Slavin & Lake, 2008; Stigler & Heibert, 1999; 
U.S. DOE, 2008). In a review of effective 
instructional practices, Washaw and Anthony 
(2008) underscored the importance of classroom 
discourse as an effective pedagogy that 
contributes to students’ engagement and 
cognitive understanding of mathematics. 
Falkenberg (2011) identified a shift from 
theorizing about what teachers need to know to 
teach mathematics to the conceptualization of 
mathematical content knowledge and a focus on 
James Badger, 
University of North Georgia 

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GATEways to Teacher Education 
A journal of the Georgia Association of Teacher Educators 
VOLUME 14, ISSUE 1 
PAGE 24 
how mathematical content knowledge is 
established. 
Significant changes in teachers’ attitudes 
and beliefs can occur when teachers have the 
opportunity to explore new instructional 
strategies and ideas in the context of their own 
classroom practice (Borko et al., 1997). While 
identifying best teaching examples of 
mathematics, Silver et al. (2009) found that 
pedagogical approaches were not systematically 
used in ways that supported students’ 
engagement with cognitively demanding 
mathematical tasks. Similar results were found 
in the instruction of mathematics at the primary 
level in England (OFSTED, 2008). Slavin and 
Lake’s (2008) review of effective elementary 
mathematics programs in three categories – 
curricula, computer-assisted instruction, and 
instructional process – identified instructional 
strategies and cooperative student learning 
methods as the most effective in terms of student 
achievement. Muir’s (2008) synthesis of 
effective teachers’ numeracy practices identified 
a set of “principles of practices,” including 
making connections, challenging all learners,
teaching for conceptual understanding, directing 
purposeful discussions, focusing on 
mathematics, and maintaining positive attitudes, 
that significantly affect student attainment in 
mathematics over a two-year period. Recent 
studies have identified the connection between 
teaching mathematics and the effective role 
manipulatives occupy to support content 
learning, especially for teaching low-achievers, 
students with learning disabilities, and English 
language learners (Boggan et al., 2010; Puchner 
et al., 2008; Uribe-Florez & Wilkins, 2010).