Compared were the attributional patterns for success and failure in mathematics of 491 tenth-grade students in Papua New Guinea and Australia. Relatively few differences were found in the patterns of boys and girls or of high- and low-achieving students, but substantial differences were found between students in the two countries. (MNS)

Interviews were used to find the frequency of different types of errors made by 95 sixth-year Papua New Guinea students on a mathematics test. The general trend was the same as for western students, but the Papua New Guinea students made far fewer careless errors. (MNS)

For 201 students in grades two, four, and six at five sites in Papua New Guinea, trial mathematical materials were used for six weeks. Achievement varied significantly among sites. Problem-solving skills were poor; computation, measurement, and mathematical language were superior to previous results. Locally developed textbooks were suggested.…

Students in Papua, New Guinea were given a test in which the words more and less were used in different contexts. Half the pupils studied had English as their first language; for the other half English was a second language. Study results of pupil errors suggested serious educational implications. (MP)

A multidisciplinary team research project to document the relationship between environmental and cultural features of Papua New Guinea, cognitive development, and mathematics learning is described. (MP)

Analysis of 116 students revealed those who preferred to process mathematical information by verbal-logical means outperformed more visual students on tests. Spatial ability and knowledge of spatial conventions had less influence on performance than expected. (MP)

Investigated were Australian and Papua New Guinean elementary school children's strategies and errors on arithmetic word problems. Reports that (1) the two samples showed similar strategies and similar errors and (2) the main variable determining difficulty was the semantic structure of the questions. (YP)

Investigated was the influence of socioeconomic status, entry style, and instructional variables on postsecondary mathematics performance of students in New Guinea. The pattern of results indicated that the performance of students could be more meaningfully grouped based on entry style rather than on mode of instruction. (Author/CW)

Investigated are the enrollment disparities and sex differences in the learning of post-secondary mathematics course. This article reports a disparity in the enrollment of females, however no significant difference in the mathematics achievement of males and females was seen. (Author/YP)

Results of a comparison of Papua New Guinea bilingual and monolingual students' (n=232) mathematics achievement indicated that bilingual students competent in both languages scored significantly higher on two different types of mathematical tests than both low-competent bilingual students and monolingual students. (32 references)

Presented are findings from a comparative study involving five developing nations and a longitudinal study of these nations concerning the educational transition between lower and upper secondary school. Results of these studies are discussed with reference to the educational policies of the countries involved in the study. (Author/CW)

Develops a causal model that explains over 40% of the variance in matriculation mathematics achievement of mature internal and external students at the University of Papua New Guinea. Background variables seem more important in the learning of mathematics compared to mediating variables for external students than for internal students. (MDH)