The Scaffolding Numeracy in the Middle Years 2003-2006 Project (SNMY) focussed on the efficacy of an assessment-guided approach to improving student outcomes in numeracy in Years 4-8. The project was prompted by previous research (e.g., Siemon, Virgona & Corneille, 2001), which identified an "eight-year" range in student mathematical achievement…

Measurement is one of the key areas of study in mathematics and features prominently in the "Australian Curriculum: Mathematics" (ACARA, 2010). In this set of investigations requiring students to estimate indirectly the height of a tree they are encouraged to use the "power of mathematical reasoning" and "apply their mathematical understanding…

A perpetual dilemma of schooling is how to help students develop skills needed for everyday life, including the work world. Quantitative literacy, also called numeracy, involves an ability to apply essential mathematics skills to authentic or near-authentic tasks. Carefully planned classroom activities can help students develop these important…

It is over 12 years since "APMC" published Bob Perry and Peter Howard's research on the use of mathematics manipulative materials in primary mathematics classrooms. Since then the availability of virtual manipulatives and associated access to computers and interactive whiteboards have caused educators to rethink the use of mathematics manipulative…

Among the practical applications of statistics is the collection of data from manufacturing processes. Often collected in the form of a time series, data collected from a series of measurements show the variation in those measurements, such as mass of a product manufactured. Limits are set for quality control and if these are exceeded then a…

With teachers and students in Government and Catholic schools in three geographical clusters in Victoria, the Task Type and Mathematics Learning (TTML) project is investigating the best ways to use different types of mathematics tasks, particularly in Grades 5 to 8. This article describes Type 1 tasks and discusses how they contribute to…

In this article, the authors discuss the use by teachers of "Type 2 tasks" within the Task Types in Mathematics Learning (TTML) Project, i.e., those in which the mathematics is situated within a contextualised practical problem. It is argued that these kinds of tasks have great potential for challenging and engaging students, and showing how…

One way of providing middle-school students with the opportunity to engage in realistic activities is to ensure that mathematical concepts and ideas can be taught and expressed in contexts closer to students' own experiences. Students are expected to learn serious, substantive mathematics in classrooms in which the emphasis is on thoughtful…

About fifteen years ago, the author discovered an interesting activity in some materials that Malcolm Swan from the Shell Centre (University of Nottingham, UK) had developed for the English National Curriculum Council in 1991. The activity, one which has been used by several presenters in professional development workshops in Australia in recent…

Games are among the many types of activities that can be used to help promote number sense. Chosen and used wisely, games encourage learning and motivate many students to grasp concepts more quickly and fully. This article describes a popular and easy-to-implement number sense game--called Digits and Dice--most commonly used in conjunction with…

In the past, graphic calculators have been sophisticated and exciting tools for higher mathematics, but few would have considered using them more than occasionally with younger students. All this has now changed with the growing range of software Apps now available for Texas Instruments TI-83 Plus calculators. These Apps are more like computer…