This article focuses on three pieces of research and explores what these studies tell about the effects of home and early education on scientific development in young children as they move into and through primary education. The first piece of research was a longitudinal study that took place between 1997 and 2004; the EPPE (Effective Provision of…

This article reports the main findings from a Review commissioned by the Wellcome Trust into science in primary schools. On the basis of those findings, it is argued that the current approach to primary science and the drive to raise standards in literacy and numeracy are turning pupils off science in primary schools, the fallout of which can be…

This paper deals with a brief history of probability theory and its applications to Jacob Bernoulli's famous law of large numbers and theory of errors in observations or measurements. Included are the major contributions of Jacob Bernoulli and Laplace. It is written to pay the tricentennial tribute to Jacob Bernoulli, since the year 2013…

The goal of this paper is to examine single variable real inequalities that arise as tutorial problems and to examine the extent to which current computer algebra systems (CAS) can (1) automatically solve such problems and (2) determine whether students' own answers to such problems are correct. We review how inequalities arise in…

We interviewed 40 students each in grades 7 and 11 to investigate their integer-related reasoning. In one task, the students were asked to write and interpret equations related to a story problem about borrowing money from a friend. All the students solved the story problem correctly. However, they reasoned about the problem in different ways.…

This paper summarizes the evaluation of a project that involved undergraduate mathematics students in the development of teaching and learning resources for statistics modules taught in various departments of a university. This evaluation regards students' participation in the project and its impact on their learning of statistics, as…

Basic calculus skills that are prerequisites for advanced mathematical studies continue to be a problem for a significant proportion of higher education students. While there are many types of revision material that could be offered to students, in this paper we investigate whether short, narrated video recordings of mathematical explanations…

This paper analyses the strategies used by pre-service primary school teachers for solving simple addition problems involving negative numbers. The findings reveal six different strategies that depend on the difficulty of the problem and, in particular, on the unknown quantity. We note that students use negative numbers in those problems they find…

Proof and proving are important components of school mathematics and have multiple functions in mathematical practice. Among these functions of proof, this paper focuses on the discovery function that refers to invention of a new statement or conjecture by reflecting on or utilizing a constructed proof. Based on two cases in which eighth and ninth…

In Ireland, to encourage the study of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects and particularly mathematics, the Mathematics Applications Consortium for Science and Industry (MACSI) and Clongowes Wood College (County Kildare, Ireland) organized a mathematical modelling workshop for senior cycle secondary school students.…

Over the past decade, many researchers have discussed the effectiveness of clickers and their potential to change the way we teach and interact with students. Although most of the literature revolves around elementary usage of clickers, the deeper questions of how to integrate this technology into teaching are largely unanswered. In this paper, we…

This article describes a mathematics support programme at the University of Queensland, targeted at first-year engineering students identified as having a high risk of failing a first-year mathematics course in calculus and linear algebra. It describes how students were identified for the programme and the main features of the programme. The…

This paper will offer an analysis from a theoretical point of view of mathematical modelling, applications and inverse problems of both causation and specification types. Inverse modelling problems give the opportunity to establish connections between theory and practice and to show this fact, a simple linear algebra example in two different…

This article presents an informed reflection on the evolution of teacher-to-learner feedback provided on written assignments in first-year university mathematics subjects. The feedback provided addresses not only mathematical accuracy and skills, but also the development of graduate attributes, such as discipline-appropriate written communication.…

Mexican authorities and universities are actively working to improve mathematics teaching and learning across the education system. Thus, efforts are underway to raise the historically low performance in mathematics, which include theoretically grounded pedagogy and curriculum development to raise mathematical knowledge in teacher education…