In this study, we aim to investigate the role of language in small group peer collaboration. Based on the notion of symmetrical scaffolding, we draw on theories of dialogic space and functional linguistics to analyse a transcript of three six-year-old students as they explore a shared understanding of 'two more than'. Using Martin and White's…

In undergraduate mathematics education, students' collaborations have gained a reputation as a 'good' learning practice. A more complex image emerges once collaborations are construed as an arena where cognitive, social, and affective matters intertwine in ways that can fuel and impede learning. In this study, I take a close look at a…

The project team for the National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement (NMSSA) has recently begun writing reports focussed on how insights generated by the study can be used to promote learning and teaching. The reports are written primarily for teachers. This short article introduces the reports with a special emphasis on the mathematics and…

Fractions are perceived as one of the most difficult areas in school mathematics to learn and teach. The most frequently mentioned factors contributing to the complexity are fractions having five interrelated constructs (part-whole, ratio, operator, quotient and measure) and teachers' pedagogical approaches to address these constructs. The present…

New Zealand curriculum documents have long referred to mathematics as a problem-solving endeavour. Although this has been an intended focus for more than 25 years, problem-solving has often been an aspect of mathematics teaching that has been overlooked (Holton, 2009). This research explores the experiences of one teacher who is committed to…

The purpose of this study was to use the Joint Action Studies in Didactics (JASD) to understand how teachers' and students' interactions co-construct knowledge during Cooperative Learning (CL). The basis of CL is that students learn with and from each other through a structured interdependent relationship. A case study approach was used to examine…

This paper examines the learning by students who were participating in a project designed to promote persistence while working on mathematical tasks. We examined their learning of mathematics concepts and learning about the processes of engaging in mathematical tasks. There were substantial increases in students' knowledge of angles and also…

This paper examines how mathematical understandings might emerge through student-centred inquiry. Data is drawn from a research project on student-centred curriculum integration that situated mathematics within authentic problem-solving contexts and involved students in collaboratively constructed curriculum. The project involved case studies in…

A study of 261 New Zealand students (ages 6-15) investigating technological capability in undertaking technological problem-solving tasks determined that focus on end-product precluded students from fully considering processes to solve problems, that technological approaches were influenced by classroom culture, and that existing concepts of…

Secondary school students' use of multiplicative strategies in an exploratory New Zealand Numeracy Project was examined. This Numeracy Project enabled teachers to interview each of their students concerning their mathematical knowledge and strategies. The percentage of students who used multiplicative strategies increased from initial to final…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe how, from 2004-2006, a New Zealand research team experimented with the "change laboratory" learning process to create a new method of government policy development and implementation, referred to as "practice-making". The apple industry in Hawke's Bay was chosen because of the…

This book contains 22 papers that are designed to situate research and practice in adults learning mathematics within the wider field of lifelong learning and lifelong education. The following papers are included: "Introduction" (Diana Coben, Gail E. FitzSimons, John O'Donoghue); "Review of Research on Adults Learning…

This volume of the 27th International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education Conference includes the following research reports: (1) The Affective Views of Primary School Children (Peter Grootenboer); (2) Theoretical Model of Analysis of Rate Problems in Algebra (Jose Guzman, Nadine Bednarz and Fernando Hitt); (3) Locating Fractions on…