So the typical method in classrooms is students are taught methods, then they solve problems. But in this classroom students got big open problems, and then they learned the methods to help them solve them. The students started at these two schools at the same levels in maths achievement, but the students at the problem based schools, ended up scoring at significantly higher levels on the national exam. And I was able to follow up and find the students eight years later, and they also ended up in more professional jobs.
Jo Boaler, speaking in Session 3, EDUC115N How to Learn Math (MOOC) [one of best courses I have engaged in]
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Boaler, J. (2002). Experiencing School Mathematics: Traditional and Reform Approaches to Teaching and Their Impact on Student Learning. (Revised and Expanded Edition ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Association.
Boaler, J. (1998). Open and Closed Mathematics: Student Experiences and Understandings. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 29(1), 41-62.
Boaler, J. (2012, 8-15 July). From Psychological Imprisonment to Intellectual Freedom – The Different Roles that School Mathematics Can Take in Students’ Lives. Paper presented at the 12th International Congress on Mathematical Education, Seoul, Korea.
it's about learning 
The instructional method is nicely illustrated, but what really wows in this video is the space they are in– to die for. Its like something out of Woody Allen’s Sleepers, a utopian-futurist learning environment.
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Perfect timing for me to watch this video. My third grade daughter brought home her math homework and I was unable to help her until I attended the open house at her school. I asked the teacher what was happening in math these days, particularly the Singapore Math every teacher at the school had been trained in. Fortunately, she walked me the the brochure teachers were giving to parents and I was astonished to see multiple ways to work math problems. I had never seen anything like it, but again, I am not a math teacher. She explained they want children to use anyway that makes sense to them. I was still a little apprehensive and wondered if they were just trying to dumb math down, but your blog with this video definitely provide me some much needed insight. Thank you.