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dex?, ” the author presents zoological context and more in activities designed from an integrated envi ronmentalist approach for teaching mathematics with the goal to motivate and engage students. Groth et al., in the article titled, “ Is This Game Fair? Deciding with Simulation Data and Orga nized Lists, ” explains how playing, simulating, and analyzing games of chance helped to develop un derstanding of content for simple probability, com pound probability, sample space, theoretical proba bility, and experimental probability. Alternatively, quality mathematics instruction could be connected to the best practices in which a mathematics teacher engages while being with her/ his students. In her article, Lorraine Howard dis cusses best practices identified by researchers for teaching mathematics to girls. We encourage you to consider the ideas laid out in the article present ed in the Math GIRLS section. Another example of this perspective on “ good ” mathematics teaching is shared by Zhenqiang Li, who discusses various ef fective ways a mathematics teacher can engage stu dents to improve their understanding of factoring trinomials. Finally, Katelyn Devine provides an ex ample with a focus on using multiple representa tions as one of the best practices in teaching mathe matics in her article titled “ Vertical Number Lines are Important, Too! ” Yet another way to consider the quality of mathe matics teaching is to focus on mathematics teacher activities such as lesson planning, assessment of

student work, and many other professional/teaching activities mathematics educators engage in while working outside of the classroom. In their articles, Alexander Moore and Kristin McKitrick - Rojas dis cuss the best way to plan and to blend the applica tions of DESMOS in mathematics instruction. You can find their contribution under the Technology Review section of the journal. Our goal in this journal is to provide a space for teachers to improve their professional knowledge, competencies, and skills by exploring topics and resources collected and discussed within the jour nal. We encourage you to explore resources for ele mentary teachers presented by NASA. Consider reading Rethinking Mathematics, this issue ’ s book reviewed under the Good Reads section. The Vir ginia Council of Teachers of Mathematics repre sentatives have also shared resources with our readers—you can find this information under Notes from the Field. We also have some competitions and puzzles that you can do on your own or with your students, and we will feature the winners in the 47(1) Special Is sue: Teaching During a Pandemic . Last, but not least, we would like to welcome our new VCTM president, Lynn Foshee Reed, and all of the newly elected representatives for the 2020/2021 year. We appreciate their service and commitment to mathematics educators of Virginia!

Virginia Mathematics Teacher vol. 46, no. 2

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