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Due to the empirical nature of the discipline, psychology students, during the course of their degree, are required to become proficient with a range of quantitative methods. Unfortunately many of these students experience high levels of maths anxiety, which can have a damaging effect on this aspect of their educational development. The first study in this paper used focus groups to identify, from psychology undergraduate and postgraduate students, potential interventions that could be used to reduce anxiety in an undergraduate sample. The second study implemented those interventions that were deemed valid and practical on a sample of 246 psychology first and second year undergraduates. The effectiveness of these interventions was mixed, but does suggest further avenues that tertiary educational institutions could take to reduce maths anxiety in their student body, in particular enhancing the use of real-life examples in quantitative methods teaching.

Lesson Study is rapidly becoming one of the most adopted models of teacher professional development worldwide. In this paper, we examine the teachers' discussions that are an integral part of the Lesson Study research cycle. In particular, we investigate the "dialogic mechanisms" that enable teachers' pedagogical intentions to be developed within the context of discussions that stem from observations of students as they address mathematical problems. In so doing we hypothesize about the nature of the "dialogic space" that is created and how this allows teachers to move from the collaborative analysis of student outcomes to an enhanced understanding of pedagogical intentions in mathematics. Data for this paper derive from a large research project taking place in Camden, London. This project aims to implement Lesson Study in the context of the introduction of a New National Curriculum for Mathematics in England. It involves a large cohort of mathematics teachers across primary and secondary schools. Quantitative analysis of video-recorded Lesson Study discussions is reviewed and one illustrative case study is included to contextualise the quantitative data. Findings suggest that a focus on student outcomes enables teachers to collaborate effectively on developing pedagogical intentions to directly address student need. Further, it seems that particular features of dialogue are evident where teachers move to an agreed perspective on pedagogic change; and evidence of 'supportive moves' in interactions suggest that a form of dialogic space is necessary if all teachers in a Lesson Study group are to learn from shared understandings about future teaching and learning needs.

This paper presents a study in a UK university that investigated how first-year (freshman) Information Systems undergraduates perceive learning through courseware containing real-world erroneous examples derived from their peers and what obstacles had to be overcome to implement effective e-Learning support for using and creating such courseware. The study finds that students find the courseware very effective in dealing with their personal misconceptions while also providing other secondary pedagogic benefits for both students and lecturers.

This paper describes a case study of two pure mathematicians who flipped their lecture to teach matrix determinants in two large mathematics service courses (one at Stage I and the other at Stage II). The purpose of the study was to transform the passive lecture into an active learning opportunity and to introduce valuable mathematical skills, such as debate, argument and disagreement. The students were told in advance to use the online material to prepare, which had a short handout on matrix determinants posted, as the lesson would be interactive and would rely on them having studied this. At the beginning of the lesson, the two mathematicians worked together to model the skill of professional disagreement, one arguing for the cofactor expansion method and the other for the row reduction method. After voting for their preferred method, the students worked in small groups on examples to defend their choice. Each group elected a spokesperson and a political style debate followed as the students argued the pros and cons of each technique. Although one lecture does not establish whether the flipped lecture model is preferable for student instruction, the paper presents a case study for pursuing this approach and for further research on incorporating this style of teaching in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics subjects.

In this paper, we present, analyse and critique an episode from a secondary school lesson involving an introduction to the definition of the scalar product. Although the teacher attempted to be explicit about the difference between a definition and a theorem, emphasizing that a definition was just an arbitrary assumption, a student rejected the teacher's definition in favour of his own alternative. With reference to this particular case, we seek to explore some ways in which teachers can introduce mathematical definitions to students so as to support, rather than attempt to circumvent, their mathematical sense making. In this regard, we believe that it is important to develop learning opportunities for students which help them to gain some appreciation of important structural and historical reasons that underpin the definitional choices made.

This paper describes how a cluster of nine secondary science teachers and lecturers from five schools and colleges in the United Kingdom designed and undertook small-scale action research projects as an approach to their own continuing professional development. The participating teachers identified a range of topics for investigation such as: student voice to inform curriculum planning; the use of STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) to raise student engagement and motivation in mathematics and literacy; and assessment and learning in practical work. The participants brought their research into practice either as individuals, pairs or within a team. Central to each project was the use of reflection as a primary approach to enable the teachers to self-evaluate their professional practice and gain a greater understanding of the wider contexts of teaching and learning. The key aim of establishing a cluster was to foster collaborative reflective practice and encourage a teacher-led process. Reflective practice was developed through the use of several approaches including: reflective discussions, audio reflections, a paper-based learning and evaluation tool, and an online hub. Teachers were particularly encouraged to use the latter three tools in an attempt to stimulate and structure their reflections critically about what was taking place in a given situation during their designed interventions, to identify suitable options, and to make tacit the knowledge gained about their approaches to classroom-based research. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)

In this theoretical paper the informal assessment practices of two experienced teachers are used as cases for generating questions about future developments in formative assessment practice. Both teachers maintain a consistent formative assessment focus on the development of their students as enquirers, and one of them supplements this with explicit self-assessment activities. However, there are subject-specific gaps in the ways in which they assess and describe their students and these are not addressed in widely promulgated advice about formative assessment. Questions are raised about how teachers might be supported to develop their assessment of subject-specific behaviour. (Contains 3 notes.)