This policy brief has been prepared by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) for the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) Regional Conference, held in Manila from 5 to 7 November 2024. This brief is in response to the conference sub-theme of, 'Learning, equity and well-being: foundational literacy,…

In the literature on numerical cognition, the presence of the capacity to distinguish between numerosities by attending to the number of items, rather than continuous properties of stimuli that correlate with it, is commonly taken as sufficient indication of numerical abilities in cognitive agents. However, this literature does not take into…

The same and different routine offers an opportunity to build a strong foundation for future grades while also deepening the experiences of prekindergarten and transitional kindergarten students. Students have opportunities to make sense, share ideas, and engage in the ideas of others. We conjecture this type of experience supports students and…

The O?THO exhibit, situated within the LivingLab at Copernicus Science Centre (CSC) in Warsaw, Poland, introduces visitors to the Cartesian principles of representing numerical data as points in a two-dimensional space--the coordinate system. This interactive tabletop digital exhibit takes the form of a collaborative two-player game where…

A key commitment of the Adult Literacy for Life Strategy (2021) is to reduce the number of adults in Ireland with unmet numeracy needs from 25% to 12%. One of the main challenges in achieving this is the varied provision of adult numeracy education. Many numeracy practitioners are either employed parttime or are volunteers with few opportunities…

The purpose of this paper is to propose an effective learning environment for the initial stages of mathematical learning. Basic numerical skills and the objects and actions that trigger those skills are conceptualized as a mathematics-learning environment. We discuss numerical learning mechanism and the basic skills and environments we use to…

The educational attainment literature has brought back interest in early American primary schools, and much current research views those schools as superior to their European peers in the education offered to youth. Its emphasis, though, on using school enrollment as the prime indicator of attainment conflicts with the revisionist view of a…

The COVID-19 public health emergency has been characterized by an abundance of data in the form of numbers and charts. Although these data are readily available, there have been challenges associated with their interpretation--exacerbated by generally low numeracy rates. Consequently, people may underestimate the speed at which the disease spreads…

Quantitative reasoning takes on different meanings based on experience and background. Across the curriculum students have various needs for their quantitative reasoning experience. As a result, at our university students have a range of choices that more closely fit their future needs. Seven different departments across campus offer quantitative…

School funding policy in Australia not only promotes educational equity in some ways but also creates substantial between-school resource inequalities due to its embrace of market ideologies. School funding policies are designed to promote school choice and competition, based on the assumption that they are both a right and an effective lever for…

Pre literacy skills in young children have been well established. Explorations of the parallel concept of pre mathematic skills in young children are minimal. Recommendations for how to engage young children, specifically infants, in math have been limited to caregiver counting games. This colloquium presents an example of how an 11-month-old is…

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) recognizes that there is a need to provide better and more targeted supports from students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE) students across the Commonwealth. To inform these supports, districts are looking for a numeracy and literacy screener that can both…

The COVID-19 pandemic is arguably the worst crisis the world has faced, so far, in this new century. We haven't seen a pandemic like this since the "1918 Flu" at the beginning of the last century, and, as of this writing, there appears to be no end in sight. What those of us who're focused on quantitative methods have noticed, in…

This document summarises key findings from research on how to better support students who enter secondary school with gaps in their foundational literacy and numeracy skills. It includes: (1) a national survey of secondary school staff -- accompanied by in-depth interviews -- which explores the support currently offered to these students, and…

This article describes a hands-on geometric tiling art activity used in two third-grade classes and four fifth-grade classes in a rural public elementary school with class sizes of around 20 students each. The lesson investigates concepts in geometry, number sense, and probability. Examples of student work and takeaways for other teachers…