Macao, a Special Administration Region of China (Macao SAR), is unique in that its mathematics education practice and research have integrated both the eastern and western traditions. Its participation in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) since 2003 inspired the research culture in mathematics education in Macao from international perspectives. In this article, we report on a survey of three kinds of research done in mathematics education in Macao: (1) research related to PISA, in particular PISA 2012 and PISA 2018; (2) research done for master’s and Ph.D. theses/dissertations in higher institutions in Macao; and (3) articles published in educational journals, particularly in mathematics education in Macao. The survey reveals emerging research cultures in mathematics education over the past decade—the interests of researchers and practitioners in topics such as comparative studies, lesson studies, mathematical problem-solving, and the use of information technology in mathematics teaching and learning. Lastly, we summarize what Macao has done well and what it needs to do better for further development of Macao’s research culture within the global trend of literacy-based mathematics education as modeled by the PISA.

Inspired by the Bourbaki Seminar, the Chinese Professor Yan’s Seminar, and the needs of domestic mathematics curriculum reformation, Beijing Mathematics Education Seminar (BMES) was founded in 1995, bringing together teachers, postgraduates, and scholars working on mathematics education. It has been recognized as a typical case of local mathematics education research culture with Chinese characteristics. Based on the core elements of cultural–historical Activity Theory, the current study, as a diachronic case study, explores the development strategies and challenges that BMES has been confronting from three aspects, that is, the subject, the object, and the instruments. Qualitative research methodology of the text analysis, informal conversations, and semi-structured interviews has been applied. The results demonstrate that the development strategies of BMES mainly include the following three points: the relay of leaders and their followers, the leading and contemporary research agenda, and inclusive and cooperative discussion format. For the current and future development, BMES is also facing a number of challenges, including the following tensions: maintaining the balance between theoretical and practical research perspectives, the orientation for the research agenda, and the relative effectiveness of “lecture” and “discussion” formats. Furthermore, the case of BMES reflects the development of Chinese mathematics education research culture in the past 25 years and to a certain extent may provide an inspiration for the construction of mathematics education research culture in other countries.

In order to develop meaningful mathematics activities for students to enjoy learning and to improve their learning, the mathematics-grounding activity (MGA) modules are developed as part of the JUST DO MATH project which has been funded by the Taiwanese Ministry of Education since 2014. The project consists of three phases: (1) research and development of the MGA modules; (2) cascading to include more teachers and designers; and (3) dissemination to students in Mathematics Camps. The evaluation of the project is still ongoing. Both student feedback and teacher feedback are collected during the MGA modules. At the current stage, data from both qualitative and quantitative results show significant positive influence.

In this chapter, we present the current status of mathematics teachersMathematics teachers ’ professional developmentProfessional development in Taiwan. We first elaborate three policy directions to outline a holistic view on three types of teachers’ professional developmentProfessional development . The three policy directions are aimed to (1) encourage teachers to take academic degree program, especially master degree of teaching, to afford benefits for teaching; (2) provide one-shot or semester-based workshops for teachers’ lifelong learning for them to catch up on contemporary educational issues and reforms; and (3) incorporate teachers’ professional, evaluation, and growth into one system for the convenience of teachers’ learning, herein the network platform. We summarize the three types with a framework to show the structure of professional development programsProfessional development programs involving teachers, their facilitators and contexts. Next, to enhance mathematics teachersMathematics teachers ’ motivation and professions in learning from the workshops, we give two examples of ongoing professional development programProfessional development program , conducted nationally, which assist mathematics teachersMathematics teachers in designing tasks and teaching practice, while cultivating their active thinking and learning. Finally, we make a concluding remark on the three types of teachers professional programs in Taiwan.

The chapter begins with the present challenges that mathematics educators in Taiwan are facing. It outlines the hierarchical structure of in-service teacher development and highlights how the top-down approach often adopted may not address the needs of classroom teachers. The authors of the chapter next describe an innovative school-based program, Lighten-up School-Based Program (LUSBP), they initiated for facilitating professional growth of mathematics teachers in Taiwan. The core for LUSBP is that all tiers of educators, teachers, and students learn through active participation whilst interacting with each other. The project employs a design-based approach with teachers as designers who learn from the process of creating tasks, enacting tasks with classroom students, and revising tasks based on students’ learning. The school-based model enables the creation of a friendly learning environment where teachers take it for granted to make changes and are willing to share their experiences with one another. The outcomes of LUSBP are positive and hold promise for the future.

This chapter reports the professional learning of 21 in-service mathematics teachers (MTs), from two junior high schools participating, in the Lighten-Up School-Based Program (LUSBP). The MTs in both the schools chose mathematical conjecturing as the theme of professional development (PD); they also participated in the PD workshops on approaches for designing diagnostic conjecturing activities planned and implemented by the same mathematics teacher educator–researcher (MTE-R). The data were collected from the dialogs and textual materials of the participating MTs, MTE-R, and students. We analyzed these data from three dimensions: the teaching designs, teaching experimentations, and environments of professional development. The results indicated the MTs’ changes included: be oriented to student-centered teaching approach, be more sensitive to students’ learning, and established the school-based professional learning communities. According to the above results, we proposed suggestions to the plan and implementation of future professional development courses for in-service mathematics teachers.