The author became aware that there are hundreds of retired teachers in the community who want to continue to learn, or at least to have their intellect stimulated. Some join clubs or read books or do crosswords or even surf the net when they retire, but these folks wanted to be stimulated with some mathematics. The author was initially surprised…

In applied mathematics particularly, one is interested in modeling real life situations; that is why, one tries to express some actual phenomenon mathematically, and then uses mathematics to determine future outcomes. It may be that one actually wishes to change the future outcome. Mathematics will not do this, but at least it tells one what to…

Teacher professionalism is a social construct which varies across time and place. In relation to the teaching of mathematics in the middle school, professionalism is a concept under siege; with the advent of national testing some teachers predict dire consequences for student learning. In this small research project several teachers depicted their…

In this paper, the author recommends that every teacher of mathematics should undertake an analysis using their own data. She further recommends that they reflect on the outcomes of their analysis and share it with colleagues. Teachers can look at an individual student's results, variations in results between student sub-groups in their classes,…

The focus of this paper is the use of National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) items to develop students' competence in reading mathematical text, to promote thinking strategies including estimation, and to evaluate alternative solutions for errors and misconceptions. Showing students test items and discussing strategies for…

The "National Mathematics Curriculum Framing Paper" has been released for consultation until 28 February 2009 (see www.ncb.org.au). Professional associations, teachers, teacher educators and others are taking the opportunity to organise meetings and forums to consider the views presented in the paper and to provide critical feedback and commentary…