ABSTRACT
The primary theories informing a reform mathematics education come from traditions in educational psychology. Since the 1960s, mathematics education researchers have drawn from sociocultural and constructivist learning theories to emphasize student-centered teaching approaches over the traditional skills-based instructional model. There has been some backlash to these approaches, dubbed the “math wars,” but ultimately the research-based practices from reform mathematics research require classroom mathematics teachers to thoughtfully consider every classroom lesson as a social experience from which each student makes meaning for mathematical content. The chapter provides clear guidelines on how to develop mathematics lesson and unit plans that provide enough student-centered experiential and social learning that also meets the breadth of typical curricular goals in mathematics education standards.
