This article builds on the work of Professor Robyn Jorgensen and Associate Professor Peter Games and others on social justice and mathematics and links to the Ethical Understandings capability of the "Australian Curriculum." Presented in this paper is an argument for the importance of a social justice approach to teaching mathematics,…

The revised Australian curriculum presents a new emphasis in primary schools on the process of Mathematical Modelling. A modelling focus brings close attention to confidence and capability with a potentially new problem-solving process, associated language, and pedagogical processes. This paper presents a Year 4 classroom modelling experience that…

Mathematical thinking is a complex, multi-faceted process that has been described as messy and difficult but can also show growth and insights into conceptual understanding and knowing. This paper explores the application of Edward de Bono's practical thinking, in particular, the occurrence of porridge words to examine the mathematical thinking of…

Number fact knowledge spans far beyond conventional automatic mastery practices involving rote learning. Having the ability to automatically recall number facts fluently does not mean students will have strong conceptual understanding. This article provides suggestions for how number fact thinking and fluency might be developed in primary…

This article argues the importance of teaching students about the philosophical and mathematical underpinnings of Australia's superannuation system as an example of a real-world problem context. It also provides a rationale for teaching financial modelling and decision-making in ways that respect the diverse financial realities represented in…

Regular contributors James and Toby Russo return with a sixth principle for educationally-rich mathematical games--almost all mathematical games have the potential to be transformed into an investigation. This article builds on their earlier piece with Leicha A Bragg (APMC 23(3), 30-34). [For "Five Principles of Educationally Rich…

In this article, the authors present an inquiry activity presented to Year 7 students in a mathematics excellence class at a P-12 school in regional Queensland. Different students solved the activity (comparing the sugar content of fruit) using decimals, percentages, ratio and rates. By asking the students to solve a problem they were much more…

This article from Carly Sawatzki and Peter Sullivan encourages schools and teachers to consider ways to embed financial literacy tasks in mathematics lessons more often, and includes an authentic task to try with your students.

Mathematical inquiry is an approach whereby students respond to ill-structured, open-ended questions that reflect the authentic problems we encounter in 'real' life (Allmond, Wells & Makar, 2010). An open-ended ill-structured question has no single correct answer and often contains ambiguities in the problem that require students to make a…

This article explores the approaches used to plan mathematical reasoning tasks by two peer learning teams, one based in regional Victoria and the other in Vancouver, Canada. The results revealed that planning and peer observation support teachers' knowledge of mathematical reasoning and the pedagogy required to promote it.

Spatial visualisation is an essential component of geometric thinking and measurement sense. It is a particular type of spatial skill that involves manipulation of spatial images and may not be naturally occurring for students. However, research shows that it is malleable and can be developed through instruction. This article presents an…

Estimation is such an important yet sometimes overlooked skill. Enhancing estimation skills through exposing students to enumeration ('how many') problems where they are required to estimate before calculating is a critical aspect of developing number sense (Reys et al., 2012). This article describes a 'how many' problem undertaken with a small…

This study reports on the capabilities of 53 Year 4 students as they completed the final stages of their first complete statistical investigation. In the context of becoming acquainted with students in a sister school in another city, students in both schools wrote and refined questions, which were answered by all students in an on-line survey.…

Background: Teacher knowledge continues to be a topic of debate in Australasia and in other parts of the world. There have been many attempts by mathematics educators and researchers to define the knowledge needed by teachers to teach mathematics effectively. A plethora of terms, such as mathematical content knowledge, pedagogical content…

It is frequently surprising to new teachers (and even those with experience) when they find that not only do some children need to recount the group they have just counted to be assured of the total but also that this need seems to be resistant to intervention. Although moving from "counting-all" to "count-on" is sometimes…