In this article, James presents the Extended Hundreds Chart, a task he used with Year 6 students to explore their thinking about and representations of negative numbers.

This article describes some of the essential mathematics that underpins the use of algorithms through a series of learning pathways. To begin, a graphic depicting the mathematical ideas and concepts that underpin the learning of algorithms for multiplication and division is provided. The understanding and use of algorithms is informed by two…

This article describes Ulrich Kortenkamp's Place Value Chart app and the accompanying teacher guide developed by the members of an international research team led by regular contributor Kevin Larkin.

We are pleased to bring you this follow-up to Mairéad Hourigan and Aisling Leavy's article [EJ1289314] that was published in issue 1 this year. In this contribution, they demonstrate that embedding mathematics within a rich context and learning sequence assists with the consolidation of student understanding and makes more effective use of teacher…

As a self described lesson collector, author Charles Lovett enjoys gathering "interesting" lessons and teasing them apart to find out what makes them "tick", particularly the pedagogy. He often wonders what decisions the teacher made that generated such an interesting and successful learning environment. Here he describes a…

This article presents an analysis of contextual tasks to support the development of counting in Foundation Year classrooms. The tasks allowed the students to engage in authentic and realistic number experiences on which to build their understandings of early number.

Algebraic reasoning is foundational to all mathematical thinking. This is no less the case in the early years of school, where the capacity to recognise the structure of mathematical processes enables students to acquire deep conceptual understanding. It is through algebra, therefore, that students are able to explore and express mathematical…

Differentiating instruction can be difficult, however, when higher performing students yearn to be stretched and lower performing students benefit from scaffolded support. One way to meet these students' learning needs and everyone in-between is to embrace the notion of novel exploration in support of critical school mathematics concepts. Novelty…

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…

Using a game-based context and concentrating explicitly on language, students in the early years are able to make sense about place value amid the vagaries of the English language in naming numbers. This conceptual approach to understanding place value allows students to further develop number strategies beyond counting by ones.

It is important for students to make informed decisions about computation. This article highlights this importance and develops a framework which may assist teachers to help students to make effective computational choices.

This article takes the position that teachers can use simple manipulative materials to model relatively complex situations and in doing so scaffold the development of students' number sense and early algebra skills. While students' early experiences are usually dominated by the cardinal aspect of number (i.e., counting the number of items in a…

The use of enabling and extending prompts allows tasks to be both accessible and challenging within a classroom. This article provides an example of how to use enabling and extending prompts effectively when employing a challenging task in Year 2.

The Reasoning Proficiency in number and algebra is about children making sense of the mathematics by explaining their thinking, giving reasons for their decisions and describing mathematical situations and concepts. Lorraine Day notes, children need to be able to speak, read and write the language of mathematics while investigating pattern and…

In this article Jessica Hunt explores the use of clinical interviews to gain a deep understanding of students' knowledge. Examples of clinical interviews are provided and advice for planning, giving and interpreting the results of interviews is also included.