How Manuscripts Can Contribute to Research on Mathematics Education: Possibilities for Applied Research

Abstract

In our editorial last January, Herbst et al. (2022) echoed a question often raised by reviewers of manuscripts: What is this manuscript's contribution to our research field? In that first elaboration on how manuscripts may contribute to the field of research in mathematics education, we discussed the contributions of basic research. In this editorial, motivated by the illustrations provided by the articles included in this issue, we do a similar exercise with applied research.

Working Interinstitutionally to Apprentice Doctoral Students in Mathematics Education Research

“…Hence, though the need to fill faculty jobs may not warrant the production of as many doctorates as in prior generations, and this may entail a reduction in the number of individuals eventually admitted to doctoral programs, this does not likewise entail that we can expect a reduction in the need for researchers or in the specialization of the fields of knowledge in which research is done. Like all fields of knowledge, our field is likely to continue to expand the sophistication of its gaze, the reach of its focus, the ambition of its research designs, and so on (Herbst et al, 2022(Herbst et al, , 2023. As lifelong education continues to be a lever for economic development across the world, the need to translate basic research in our field into usable knowledge will probably grow.…”

In Memoriam Jeremy Kilpatrick: An Editor’s Editor

“…Although the responsibility to steward our research is shared among all researchers, Jeremy's role as editor provided him with a special platform for it. Through my look across his editorials, I found resonances with my own team's plea for research in mathematics education to extend the focus and expand the gaze with which we look at the practices of mathematics education (Herbst et al, 2022). I bring an example of each of these types of expansions.…”

Stewarding Our Commons for the Infinite Game of Research

“…Our scholarly community needs to preserve its capacity to challenge each of us in some way for all of us to grow-both in the way we look at phenomena and in the range of phenomena on which we focus (Herbst et al, 2022a). Our pluralistic gaze has become inclusive not only of cognitive and epistemological perspectives, but also sociopolitical and critical ones; our pluralism in the foci of our research has enabled our field to include studies of individual mathematical thinking, classrooms, systems, workplaces, and cultures.…”