Maths education

There is little research about the experiences of students in Māori-medium education learning mathematics. This article reveals what these students see as their teacher’s role, and the advice that they’d give to other students making the transition to secondary school.

Fractions are known to be difficult. Jonathan Fisher explores why this is so, looking in particular at the crucial foundation concepts of part-whole relationships and partitioning. He outlines common student errors uncovered in piloting ARB assessment items about fractions, and suggests some ways to help students gain a fuller understanding.

How can teachers support students' additive thinking? This article focuses on the study of a lesson designed to teach the equal additions strategy for subtraction, in which many teachers, despite having a strong commitment to promoting conceptual understanding, struggled with various aspects of the material and resorted to teaching procedurally. The authors conclude that teachers need to have a deeper, more connected understanding of addition and subtraction in order to develop their pedagogical content knowledge in mathematics.

One of the most important goals for teaching statistics is to prepare students to deal with the statistical information that increasingly impacts on their everyday lives. Students need to be able to critically evaluate statistical information and data-based arguments. The findings of this collaborative research study of Year 9 students suggest that all students can and should be exposed to critical thinking in statistics, and identify some ways that teaching of statistical literacy might be altered for greater effectiveness.

Fractions are important mathematically and in everyday life but are complicated and difficult to learn. Teachers therefore need to be able to work out what students understand about fractions and what is causing them problems. This article reports on a study where students were asked to answer a number of items involving fractions on number lines and measurement scales. The items provided a simple way to assess and interpret student understanding that teachers may find useful.

Years 4 and 5 students explore and articulate their understanding of number properties.  How can their ability to think algebraically be enhanced?

This exploratory study of self-regulated learning for mathematics education looked at how to encourage self-regulating behaviour using reflective journalling and models to represent problem situations.

Keeping a journal in the mathematics classroom has clear benefits.  In this study a group of students kept journals on their mathematics lessons and were found to become more regular and deeper metacognitive thinkers.  Strong links between journals and self-regulation are made in the research literature.

Instruction can help students develop a richer understanding of estimation and a wider range of strategies.

The students in this study started with a fairly limited understanding of estimation, often equating it with rounding. They quickly developed new skills and awareness of how estimation could enrich their mathematical skills.