Students often struggle to connect math with the real world. Word problems—a combination of words, numbers, and mathematical operations—can be a perfect vehicle to take abstract numbers off the page.

The cognitive flexibility that comes from being multilingual can give students a boost in math—if teachers know how to build on English learners’ strengths. Seventy-seven percent of 8th-grade ...

Mathematicians excel at handling complexity and uncertainty. Mathematical reasoning strategies aren't just useful for dilemmas involving numbers. We can apply math mindsets to improve our approach to ...

Segue Institute for Learning teacher Cassandra Santiago introduces a lesson on word problems to her first graders one spring afternoon. Credit: Phillip Keith for The Hechinger Report The Hechinger ...

Today’s teaching methods prioritize creative problem-solving over traditional formulas and equations, but these changes may be critical for the next generation. A group of children work together on a ...

January 29, 2026 - In 1985, Merryl Goldberg went to the Soviet Union and met The Phantom Orchestra. To help them she made up a secret code, hidden in sheet music. As routines for the new school year ...

Imagine you’re a character in a math problem. You have three platters, but two cakes. All three platters need to have the same amount of cake. How would you split it? Without even saying the word ...

This story was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet focused on education. The Hechinger Report is a national nonprofit newsroom that reports on one topic: education.