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This paper is an examination of the way mathematics, and STEM, arises through stories of teaching and learning on, with, and alongside Land. It emerges from research, undertaken in different Nations (Cree, Dene, Métis, Mi'kmaw, Naskapi, Canada), that considers what locally meaningful K-12 STEM teaching and learning might look like in Indigenous contexts. The paper reflects our research process. Each story is followed by a conversation that surfaces elements of how mathematics, language, learning, and different ways of knowing, being, and doing circulate together and emerge in relation to Land and all relations living within it. We frame the work in ethical relationality to open a space where Indigenous and Western knowledges might co-exist, attending to ongoing tensions in the work between ways of knowing, being, and doing of different people and peoples/nations, between perspectives and experiences of indigenous and non-indigenous participants, between languages, while still creating spaces where we might move closer together through iterative processes of collective learning. This exploration provides insight into how and when we might remember that mathematics has spirit, how quantity and pattern live in various contexts, when numbers might be inadequate for a context, and how all these ideas can meaningfully inform mathematics teaching and learning via relationships between language, mathematics and learners. We seek a mathematics that resists abstraction as extraction and instead lives and enspirits teaching and learning through relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although women's representation in STEM fields and occupations has increased, science and math continue to be stereotyped as male domains. This paper links psychological and sociological explanations for gendered disparities in STEM by examining the relationship between the local "micro-situational" female learning environment and the gender gap in academic self-concept in math and science. We applied hybrid models to TIMSS 2015 data comprised of a pseudo-panel of repeated measures for individual student and peer achievement, academic self-concept, utility value, and interest-enjoyment value in math/science (at age 14). We analyzed data from three countries, including a subsample of students who were taught by the same teacher in both math and science, thus eliminating unobserved teacher heterogeneity. Results indicate that female peer climate in the classroom is important for understanding how girls' self-concept in math/science is formed, even though it was unrelated to the gender gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Play is an important part of the childhood. The learning potential of playing and creating non-digital games, like tabletop games, however, has not been fully explored. Aim: The study discussed in this paper identified a range of activities through which learners redesigned a mathematics-oriented tabletop game to develop their ideas and competencies in an integrated STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) class. Method: Third and fourth graders worked as teams to make changes on Triominos over a period of six weeks. Considering what could be changed from the original game, each group provided a different design for Triominos to accommodate the changes introduced. We gathered data through weekly observations of two classes (about 45 learners, ranging from age eight to ten) in a west-Canada school. In this paper, we present the works of three groups of three teammates. Results: We found that any change made by learners not only influenced mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics of the game but also helped engage learners, encourage unconventional ideas, promote learning, and solve problems. Based on our findings, we suggest redesigning games facilitated learners deepen their understanding of mathematical concepts as part of a designed game system in STEM classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A strong knowledge of mathematics, beginning at the elementary level, is critical for participation in today's complex world. The home may be one way to facilitate individualized mathematics instruction, given that children spend more time at home than in an academic institution. Therefore, researchers are interested to see whether the home numeracy environment (HNE) can provide a solid foundation for children's mathematics understanding. Further, children's digital mathematics exploration at home is increasingly common (e.g., using math apps). Objectives: The present study evaluates the digital home numeracy practice (DHNP) model and explores its effect on children's mathematics knowledge across five domains (numeration, number operation, pattern recognition, spatial sense, and applied problem‐solving). Methods: To conduct this study, 117 Canadian parents and their children from Grade 1 through 5 completed a DHNP survey and a range of in‐person mathematics measures. Results and Conclusions: The results identified significant relations between parents and children's implicit mathematics factors (e.g., math anxiety, motivation). Children's mathematics anxiety and parents' academic estimations and expectations for their children positively predicted children's mathematics knowledge. In terms of DHNP components, parental involvement in DHNP predicted children's numeration and applied problem‐solving knowledge. Implications: Taken together, the results detail the contribution of parental and child factors to children's mathematics knowledge and suggest that parents adjust their role in DHNP according to their children's mathematics ability. Lay Description: What is (not) known about the subject matter?: Research is less developed on the impact of home technology in the mathematics learning processExisting research did not use a multi‐measure approach to assess the relationships between a variety of home numeracy factors and fundamental mathematics concepts and processes What is the contribution of this paper?: The paper highlights the importance of considering different home related factors to understand the role of home numeracy practices in children's mathematics developmentIt provides a holistic view of digital home numeracy practice (DHNP) by examining several implicit and explicit components of home numeracy environmentChildren's mathematics anxiety predicts their mathematics knowledgeParental estimation and expectation about their children's mathematics performance predicts their mathematics knowledge across several domains whereas parental role on DHNP impacts children's numeration only What are the implications of the findings?: The findings provide an understanding of the significant value of including digital mathematics practices in the study of the home mathematics environmentThe outcome of the study provides guidance for educators and researchers to better understand and leverage DHNP, and its impact on children's mathematics educationFuture research should investigate to what extent digital features should be included in the DHNP model. This will provide insights into the impact of using well‐designed apps on children's mathematics learning [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Computer‐based assessment allows for the monitoring of reader behaviour. The identification of patterns in this behaviour can provide insights that may be useful in informing educational interventions. Objectives: Our study aims to explore what different patterns of reading activity exist, and investigates their interpretation and consistency across different task sets (units), countries, and languages. Three patterns were expected: on‐task, exploring and disengaged. Methods: Using log data from the PISA 2012 digital reading assessment (9226 students from seven countries), we conducted hierarchical cluster analyses with typical process indicators of digital reading assessments. We identified different patterns and explored whether they remained consistent across different units. To validate the interpretation of the identified patterns, we examined their relationship to performance and student characteristics (gender, socio‐economic status, print reading skills). Results and Conclusions: The results indicate a small number of transnational clusters, with unit‐specific differences. Cluster interpretation is supported by associations with student characteristics—for example, students with low print reading skills were more likely to show a disengaged pattern than proficient readers. Exploring behaviour tended to be exhibited only once across the three units: It occurred in the first unit for proficient readers and in later units for less skilled readers. Major Takeaways: Behavioural patterns can be identified in digital reading tasks that may prove useful for educational monitoring and intervention. Although task situations are designed to evoke certain behaviours, the interpretation of observed behavioural patterns requires validation based on task requirements, assessment context and relationships to other available information. Lay Description: What is already known about the subject matter?: Students differ in how they read, comprehend and use digital information.Indicators from process data provide insight about how students engage with digital reading tasks. What does this paper add to the subject matter?: Based on multiple process indicators, a small number of clusters indicating different behavioural activity can be distinguished.These clusters can be described as on‐task, passive, hasty, exploring, disengaged, persistent and lost interest.A meaningful interpretation of the clusters must consider the requirements of the underlying tasks. Implications for practice and/or policy: Knowledge of how students engage with digital resources may provide useful feedback for teachers to guide students' learning or intervene when they struggle.Educational monitoring: The high comparability of country‐specific results suggests an invariant set of solution strategies in the digital reading assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The act of making provides students with an opportunity to create and design by using materials and technologies. Scholars who examine learning through making maintain that maker approaches to solving problems, creating designs, and thinking about real-world ideas promote the development of abstract thinking skills, such as modeling, and computational thinking (CT) skills. Our goal is to research the use of specific methods of maker education—such as experimenting with tools and hands-on designs—in learning mathematics. We ask: what are the benefits and potential outcomes for designing and teaching learning activities which integrate technology maker practices and pedagogies in mathematics and other school concepts in STEM contexts? We analyzed qualitative data on the benefits and potential outcomes of maker practices and pedagogies from three cases in Canada and Brazil. The researchers designed and facilitated the tasks to study the experiences of participants. Participants were observed, interviewed (or asked interview questions via a questionnaire), and completed reflection prompts. Their activities were recorded. The results show that learning from maker practices and pedagogies augments the learning of individual STEM disciplines, with specific settings and activity designs offering varied foci on mathematics and technology, on science, engineering and mathematics, or on science, technology and mathematics. Students, preservice teachers and teachers benefit in cognitive, interdisciplinary and social (situated) ways. Further research is needed to explore how deeper and other benefits, including critical benefits, may be achieved for learning and teaching mathematics and to explore which practices and pedagogies are associated with more potential outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TRansforming Instruction in Undergraduate Mathematics via Primary Historical Sources (TRIUMPHS) is a multi-year, multi-institution collaborative project funded by the US National Science Foundation aimed at developing and testing student projects based on primary historical sources related to the original or subsequent development of core topics in today's tertiary mathematics curriculum. In addition to developing a broad range of projects and supporting their site testing by instructors across the US and Canada, TRIUMPHS includes a major Evaluation-with-Research component that is studying the effects of their classroom use on students and instructors. Our goal in this article is to share an overview of our research efforts related to the student learning experience—and as importantly, the tale of how we arrived at them—with others engaged in the effort to transform instruction in the field of undergraduate mathematics education. We provide a summary of three research initiatives undertaken by TRIUMPHS: a metadiscursive rules investigation based on Sfard's theory of commognition, an exploratory study of the concepts of transgressive actions and boundary crossings (first put forth by Polish psychologist Jozef Kozielecki) within the context of student learning of mathematics, and an examination of the different views students hold regarding the nature of mathematics. Additionally, we offer methodological reflections on how we revised our research questions and analytic tools based on theoretical constructs from mathematics education and beyond as the project unfolded over the first 6 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new body of sociological research is finding that northern and rural youth, and in particular, low‐SES youth, face difficulties accessing higher levels of postsecondary education and lucrative fields of study such as the STEMs. However, existing research has yet to systematically measure the skills proficiencies of youth in these regions nor have we understood the factors which might account for regional differences. We draw on multiple cycles of Statistics Canada's Youth in Transition Survey, Cohort A linked to the Programme for International Student Assessment scores to investigate how location of residence impacts skills proficiencies at age 15 in math, science, and reading outcomes. Overall, our results point to three key findings. First, southern youth outperform northern youth in mathematics skills. Second, we uncover a southern (both urban and rural) and northern urban advantage in reading proficiencies. Third, in science literacy, southern and northern urban youth experience significant advantages over youth from northern rural locations. While some of the skills differences are attributable to parenting styles, parental socioeconomic status, student academics, and province of residence, they are not completely attenuated by these factors. We conclude with a discussion of the implications for future research and public policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Despite 20 y of biomonitoring studies of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in both serum and urine, we have an extremely limited understanding of PFAS concentrations in breast milk of women from the United States and Canada. The lack of robust information on PFAS concentrations in breast milk and implications for breastfed infants and their families were brought to the forefront by communities impacted by PFAS contamination. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this work are to: a) document published PFAS breast milk concentrations in the United States and Canada; b) estimate breast milk PFAS levels from maternal serum concentrations in national surveys and communities impacted by PFAS; and c) compare measured/estimated milk PFAS concentrations to screening values. METHODS: We used three studies reporting breast milk concentrations in the United States and Canada We also estimated breast milk PFAS concentrations by multiplying publicly available serum concentrations by milk:serum partitioning ratios for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS), and perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA). Measured and estimated breast milk concentrations were compared to children’s drinking water screening values. DISCUSSION: Geometric means of estimated breast milk concentrations ranged over approximately two orders of magnitude for the different surveys/ communities. All geometric mean and mean estimated and measured breast milk PFOA and PFOS concentrations exceeded drinking water screening values for children, sometimes by more than two orders of magnitude. For PFHxS and PFNA, all measured breast milk levels were below the drinking water screening values for children; the geometric mean estimated breast milk concentrations were close to—or exceeded—the children’s drinking water screening values for certain communities. Exceeding a children’s drinking water screening value does not indicate that adverse health effects will occur and should not be interpreted as a reason to not breastfeed; it indicates that the situation should be further evaluated. It is past time to have a better understanding of environmental chemical transfer to—and concentrations in—an exceptional source of infant nutrition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]