The learning environment has been found to be related to mathematics anxiety at a variety of educational levels, including higher education, but to date has not been investigated in relation to preservice teachers. It has been previously found that preservice teachers often harbour high levels of mathematics anxiety, and that mathematics-anxious…

In this paper it is demonstrated how the free, and easily downloadable, software package called SMath Studio can be used to set up a model of alpha-particle scattering. The basic physics of the motion of an alpha-particle in the nuclear coulomb field is used to produce a simple stepwise computer algorithm which, in conjunction with a novel set of…

The metaphors that students form and encounter have been shown to exert a powerful influence on how they think about mathematics. In this paper, we explore the linguistic metaphors about learning and doing mathematics that were prevalent in 11 advanced mathematics lectures. We present four metaphor clusters that were common in the corpus that we…

Textbooks, which form the staples of a teacher's set of resources, play a critical role in deciding what and how mathematics is taught in classrooms. However, textbooks do not always present concepts in ways that enhance understanding by students, nor are they always comprehensive in the treatment of a topic. In this exploratory study, we analyse…

In the USA, the Common Core Standards in Mathematics for the early grades (K-3) are designed to build on and develop students' number sense as students gain understanding of the structures of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. It is well understood in teaching circles that subtraction is notoriously more difficult for students…

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…

Global economic and societal shifts are causing movement from manufacturing economies to knowledge and information industries. As a result, learners must be equipped with the 21st century skills necessary for lifelong skill development and prosperity. Communication is identified as one of the essential 21st century skills for preparing students…

An Australian longitudinal study of 319 Kindergartners developed, implemented and evaluated an intervention, the Pattern and Structure Mathematics Awareness Program (PASMAP). It comprised of repetitions and growing patterns, structured counting and grouping, grids and shapes, partitioning, additive and multiplicative structures, measurement and…

Common student errors and misconceptions can be addressed through the method of classroom voting, in which the instructor presents a multiple-choice question to the class, and after a few minutes for consideration and small-group discussion, each student votes on the correct answer, using a clicker or a phone. If a large number of students have…

Beginning teachers (BTs) are increasingly expected to teach ambitiously from day one. However, they continue to face classroom management challenges. This study presents case studies of two elementary BTs that explore (1) the relationship between BTs' management and instructional practices in mathematics and English language arts and (2) its…

Negative relationships between mathematics anxiety and achievement appear in many countries globally (Lee, 2009; OECD, 2013), suggesting that mathematics anxiety could be an underconsidered factor in regions with persistently low mathematics achievement. We draw on a national sample of students and their teachers in Belize to examine relations…

In this study, we share our broad and deep search for what is known from blind-peer-reviewed research publications about the efficacy of the instructional practice of Number Talks. We describe our process for literature review and the subsequent analysis that revealed a shallow depth of articles for which one can discern the factors of quality of…

Mathematics is presented in non-STEM disciplines as a subject that helps students acquire tools they will need in their future careers. Therefore, the need for instruction in mathematics demands content, oriented not only towards fundamental principles and techniques, but also towards their application in a specific context. By directing the…

This paper leverages an intrinsic approach to the conception of mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) to show how it can be used to examine teachers' MKT. In this qualitative study, I interviewed eight practicing teachers using tasks designed to generate data regarding their (a) personal interpretations of slope, (b) understanding of how…

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…