The Elementary Mathematics Laboratory 2014 (EML 2014) Collection documents a summer mathematics class taught by Deborah Loewenberg Ball, an experienced elementary school teacher and faculty member at the University of Michigan School of Education. EML 2014 was a two-week summer mathematics laboratory designed to develop strong and positive academic identities in students, setting them on a path to success in school. The program was also designed to contribute to the professional growth of teachers who observed the lab class sessions. Mathematics topics included fractions, the number line, equivalence, and place value, along with important mathematical practices, such as explaining, representing, proving, and defining.

The EML 2014 summer program enrolled 30 students entering fifth grade in the fall, with ethnically, racially, economically, and linguistically diverse backgrounds. The summer mathematics class aimed to support students’ mathematical thinking and reasoning in order to set students on a path to success in school mathematics. The mathematics laboratory offered an intensive program for students from a local school district in Michigan. Students participating in the laboratory received approximately 20 hours of mathematics instruction—equivalent to a typical month of school—and were assigned up to an hour of homework each night to reinforce and extend the topics covered in the lessons.