Supporting Productive Struggle in Learning Mathematics

About this episode

This episode discusses the importance of supporting productive struggle in learning mathematics as part of the Mathematics Teaching Practices series.

This episode of Room to Grow wraps up Joanie and Curtis’ season 5 series on the Mathematics Teaching Practices from NCTM’s Principles to Actions. The final practice in the series is “Support productive struggle in learning mathematics.” This is defined as follows: Effective teaching of mathematics consistently provides students, individually and collectively, with opportunities and supports to engage in productive struggle as they grapple with mathematical ideas and relationships. Our h...

People in this episode

Hosts: Joanie, Curtis

Topics covered

• productive struggle
• mathematics teaching practices
• NCTM
• education
• student engagement

Keywords

• mathematics
• teaching practices
• NCTM
• productive struggle
• education

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NCTM

More episodes of Room to Grow - a Math Podcast

• Data Science for Everyone! · May 13, 2026 · 42 min
• Still Standing: Practical Sustainability for Educators · April 22, 2026 · 49 min
• I used to think… but now I think… · March 23, 2026 · 41 min
• Instructional Nudges with Zandra de Araujo · February 11, 2026 · 41 min
• From Anxious to Explorer: Rethinking Math Class for a Disengaged Generation · January 16, 2026 · 46 min
• What We Learned in 2025 · December 17, 2025 · 38 min