At the commencement of 2022 there was an opportunity to be engaged in a curriculum development project focused on reimagining mathematics learning in primary schools. Schools were seeking new experiences to support engaging students and teachers in mathematics learning. Laburnum Primary School participated in the project with Monash University,…

Time estimations, patterns and measurement sense are important skills to develop within the mathematics classroom (Mildenhall, 2016; Thomas et al., 2017). To develop a true understanding of time, students need to holistically understand: the language of time, the notion of duration and succession, how time is measured, and the concept of time…

The authors share the results of a research project involving the use of mathematics to develop students' Numeracy General Capabilities. The current article delves into an example of a teacher supporting 'good habits of mind' through focussing on the Critical Learning Disposition of accuracy.

This article presents activities focused on developing some essential Year 1-3 fraction understandings (i.e., joining/composing, decomposing/ partitioning) while aligning these activities to the Australian Curriculum content strands and content descriptions. Additionally, the authors describe the materials/resources needed, the key vocabulary…

In this brief article, Peter, Larissa and Doug present a single-page scaffold that challenges us to think of the mathematical proficiencies in a whole new way. By thinking of the proficiencies as verbs, they can be seen as purposeful learner actions and offer clues as to what it might mean to be a mathematician.

Evidence suggests that some students have learned procedures with little or no underpinning understanding while others have a much more connected and conceptual levels of understanding. In this article, the work of four primary students is discussed in terms of their contextual understanding of multiplicative concepts. The difference between…

Problems sourced from national and international competitions such as the Australian Mathematics Competition are often used effectively as enrichment and/or extension activities for high achieving students. While this has meant that they are sometimes deemed too esoteric or trivial for use in the regular classroom, this paper takes the view that…

Multiplicative thinking is accepted as a "big idea" of mathematics that underpins important mathematical concepts such as fraction understanding, proportional reasoning, and algebraic thinking. It is characterised by understandings such as the multiplicative relationship between places in the number system, basic and extended number…

Lorraine Day and Derek Hurrell provide a convincing argument for using arrays to promote students' understandings of mental computation strategies for multiplication. They also provide a range of different examples that illustrate the benefits of arrays in the primary classroom.

Find out how to use photographic images to support the conceptual development of proportional thinking. This paper provides insight into a sequenced activity that promotes student engagement and makes links to familiar and unfamiliar contexts.

In providing a continued focus on tasks and activities that help to illustrate key ideas embedded in the "Australian Curriculum," this issue focuses on the Statistics and probability strand and the sub-strand of Chance. In the Australian Curriculum (ACARA, 2015), students are not asked to list outcomes of chance experiments and represent…

Use of technology in the mathematics classroom has the potential to advance children's learning of mathematics and enhance their attitudes about mathematics. When used in conjunction with purposeful planning, teachers can use technological tools to reinforce their pedagogical intentions and to facilitate relevant learning activities for students.…

Stephen Tucker presents a fractions game that addresses a range of fraction concepts including equivalence and computation. The REFractions game also improves students' fluency with representing, comparing and adding fractions.

This article by Jennie Marston provides a framework to assist you in selecting appropriate picture books to present mathematical content. Jennie demonstrates the framework by applying three specific examples of picture books to the framework along with examples of activities.

In this article, John West explores student misconceptions relating to division. A range of activities that promote the understanding of divisibility rules are provided.