This article builds on the work of Professor Robyn Jorgensen and Associate Professor Peter Games and others on social justice and mathematics and links to the Ethical Understandings capability of the "Australian Curriculum." Presented in this paper is an argument for the importance of a social justice approach to teaching mathematics,…

Australian primary school teachers have reported that they use games frequently in teaching mathematics. In this paper, the authors discuss the game mechanics of five types of whole-class games that can be particularly powerful for supporting mathematical thinking and student engagement in mathematics.

This article presents the journey taken by staff at St. Patrick's Primary School in Kilmore to implement a consistent approach to the teaching of mathematics, using an instructional model to support student learning through structured inquiry pedagogies.

In this article, the authors from Monash University and the University of Sydney have collaborated to present a research-informed model to support the planning and teaching of mathematics, using a student centred structured inquiry approach.

Families lay the foundation for their children's future educational success. Engaging families in mathematics education has positive benefits for their child's attitude, motivation to learn, and academic achievement. Fostering school-home partnerships are essential to ensure that mathematics learnt in the classroom have wider applicability to home…

This article is based upon Peter Sullivan's (2021) structured inquiry approach to teaching mathematics, in which the authors take a deep dive into the technique of "Spotlighting" in the "Explore" phase of this model to assist in optimal learning experiences for students. Working from the premise that students are best placed to…

Providing students with rich tasks that are both engaging and mathematically important is a vital aspect of teaching primary mathematics effectively. One means of supporting the development of rich tasks that meet these criteria is to embed them in a narrative. Narratives can aid in the development of mathematical understanding through a number of…

Effective planning lays the foundations for effective teaching in mathematics (Smith & Stein, 2018). The planning decisions made by teachers are many and varied and ultimately inform what, how and why students learn mathematics (Kilpatrick et al., 2001). Critically, these decisions affect students' opportunities to engage with mathematics in…

An alternative means of exploiting the benefits of children's storybooks when teaching primary mathematics is to be led by the story, rather than by the curriculum. This is referred to as a narrative-first approach, and contrast it with a curriculum-first approach (Russo & Russo, 2017e). The narrative-first approach involves first identifying…

This paper focuses on the importance of identifying students' Prior Knowledge (PK) for the teaching and learning of mathematics. Specifically, we present a framework that exemplifies the core elements teachers need to consider in relation to the purpose, design and implementation of learning experiences that enable PK to be activated and assessed.…

Mathematics, when viewed as a subject to be studied, is a long-established polarising discipline; people's feelings are always passionate and deeply rooted in their identity. Self-identified 'maths people' may end up in careers driven by their fascination with numbers; engineers, architects, analysts, whilst those on the opposite end of the…

Lorna Quinnell and Merrilyn Carter examine the use of symbols in teaching mathematics and outline the difficulties students experience in "reading symbols and abbreviations." We are sure teachers will appreciate the way the authors have examined the use of symbols and abbreviations in NAPLAN testing and organized them into five distinct…

Augmented reality (AR) is a valuable tool which is becoming more easily accessible due to the recent developments in mobile device technology and the growing availability of AR content. Augmented reality refers to computer generated 3D objects superimposed onto real life scenes. Unlike virtual reality, AR simply needs a device with a camera, the…

In this article, the authors describe classroom use of technology that successfully engaged fourth grade students (typically aged 9-10) in the United States in learning about fractions. The activities involved the use of an interactive simulation designed to support student learning of fractions, and whole-class discussion where students were…

Continuing the series of articles on teaching mathematics with technology, this article furthers the authors' exploration of the use of a range of mobile technologies to enhance teachers' practices in the primary mathematics classroom. In Part 1 of this article, the authors explored the use of the iPod Touch and iPad. In Part 2, they explore…