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Students in secondary school often find mathematics abstract and irrelevant, frequently questioning its usefulness and purpose. The discourse around STEM education has encouraged secondary teachers to attempt connecting mathematics with other STEM disciplines, most commonly with science. By making connections between content and skills through applications, it is anticipated that secondary school students will engage more in class that may result in improved mathematics achievement. This paper explores the rationale for making connections with science, examines the impact on student achievement in mathematics from previous research and discusses challenges for schools and teachers.

Why have an organisation like MERGA? This question will be addressed from past, present and future perspectives (1976, 2012, and 2025). One focus of the paper will be the need to improve mathematics curricula, and to improve the teaching and learning of mathematics, at all levels. I shall argue that we have not done enough to make sure that MERGA has delivered, is still delivering, and will continue to deliver the goods on such basic curriculum/teaching/learning issues. Part of the difficulty is that we researchers have not reached agreement on what we mean by "improvement". That is as much a political issue as anything else, of course, but the MERGA community needs to do more to make sure that the responsibility for defining what improvement means, and how it is assessed, is not in the wrong hands. A second focus of the paper will be some reflections on what the "A" in MERGA might represent. This Conference is being held in Singapore, and the challenge is for a wider vision of MERGA's role in Asia to be formulated and implemented.