Within increasing pressure on young people to perform successfully in work, there is a growing concern regarding their levels of numeracy (and literacy). Whether such concerns are founded is the basis of this paper. This paper reports on the numeracy practices undertaken by three young boatbuilders who were nearing the completion of their 4-year…

This article explores the implications of young learners' dispositions towards the use of digital technologies in contemporary early childhood settings. It is proposed that young learners have grown up in very different social conditions from previous generations, mainly through the saturation of digital technologies, in particular computers. This…

This paper reports on the outcomes of a survey implemented in a large regional community of Australia. The survey was completed by parents of children aged four-five years and attending local early childhood centres. The survey identified the types of access and use of computers by preschool children. It was found that the children of the…

Interactive whiteboards (IWB) are an innovation that is gaining considerable presence in many contemporary classrooms. This paper examines the use of IWBs in mathematics classrooms. Using a productive pedagogies framework to analyse classroom videos, it is proposed that the classrooms observed used a restricted approach in their use of IWBs. It…

Ability grouping is a common practice in many mathematics classrooms. Its negative effects on students have been documented in research spanning two decades or more, and yet it is still widely implemented--in some countries even mandated. Using data from interviews with Australian students in the compulsory years of secondary schooling (14-16…

Mathematics teacher education programs are designed with an intention, explicit or implicit, to produce graduates who are competent in both pedagogic knowledge and discipline knowledge. This paper explores students' experiences in coming to learn mathematics and mathematics education. Using an example from a quiz question, supplemented with…

Why are some students more likely to succeed in or fail mathematics than their peers, in spite of similar learning opportunities? Frequently such differences have been framed within liberal or even conservative discourses that identify purportedly innate dispositions, such as the ability or intelligence, as the root of differential success.…

This paper contains a reaction to another paper that discusses possibilities for reforming mathematics education and social justice. The author identifies the conceptualization that the pathways that students take through mathematics should be meaningful and lead to productive lives in the new labor market. The hegemony of mathematics education as…

Reports on the implementation of a four-year project exploring effective and alternative assessment items in a primary mathematics education course. Provides a rationale for using posters in preservice education and discusses the development of criteria for effective posters. Concludes with a practical recommendation for the implementation of…

Discusses a 4-year action research project that involved the development of effective assessment tools for preservice mathematics teachers. Focuses on peer assessment in which students reviewed posters created by their peers. Concludes that peer assessment is an effective tool for assessment in preservice mathematics teacher education but must not…

Constructivism has assumed a dominance with mathematics education but it ignores the social implications of the construction of meaning. It is argued that constructivism is a liberal discourse that valorizes the individual construction of meaning. In doing this, the social and political contexts in which mathematical knowledge is located is…

Through analysis of teacher talk and student talk in an adult numeracy class, demonstrates how cultural assumptions implicit in numeracy teaching are not made explicit to students. Situated in an English-as-a-Second-Language context, analysis demonstrates how these assumptions are embedded in linguistic choices that present particular kinds of…

Literacy educators have been actively theorising the demands of literacy in New Times yet mathematics educators have taken little of this debate up. If, as literacy educators suggest, literacy demands are different in these New Times, what are the implications for numeracy or mathematics educators? This paper explores perceptions of young and…

This paper explores the use of study groups in a preservice primary mathematics education subject where discipline knowledge (mathematics) is integrated with pedagogical knowledge (mathematics education). In order to address the well-recognized fear and competency levels of preservice teachers in the study of mathematics, study groups were…

The basic unit of school based mathematics teaching is the lesson. This article is a contribution to understanding teacher actions that facilitate successful lessons, defined as those that engage all students, especially those who may sometimes feel alienated from mathematics and schooling, in productive and successful mathematical thinking and…