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Multiplication is one of the Mathematical concepts which is difficult to be learnt by most of year two primary school pupils, especially for low achievers. The purpose of this study was to diagnose year two pupils’ misunderstanding of multiplication concepts at selected schools in Sabah. This survey study involved a sample of 202 year two pupils from two primary schools in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. The schools were selected based on its large number of pupils representing year two student population in the state of Sabah. Data collected via the administration of Diagnostic Mathematics Test (Multiplication) was then analyzed qualitatively. Results obtained show that these pupils generally comprehend only certain multiplication concepts, at the surface level of understanding and comprehension. Most of them were not able to resolve questions in the form of conceptual understanding and problems solving.

For meaningful learning to take place, it depends on, among other things, what dominates learner's attention. What are they attending to and how are they attending to it? For learners to appreciate and understand mathematical topics and to have a meaningful experience of learning mathematics, it is necessary to create opportunities for them to make use of their powers to contact important mathematical structures and to become aware of dimensions and depth of the topic. Stage One pupils in three schools in Penang will be invited to construct relevant mathematical examples meeting specified constraints in various mathematical topics in order to investigate their understanding. This concept paper reports on the design, development and exploitation of a rich framework to assess mathematical thinking of Stage One pupils and for what it means to understand and appreciate a mathematical topic.

Examples have always played a central role in the development and the teaching of mathematics (Bills and Watson, 2008). This paper reports on teachers choice and uses of examples in elementary mathematics teaching. Selecting an appropriate example become a challenging task with teacher's pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) being a determining factor in the process of selecting and using examples. In this case study approach, two pre-service teachers from teachers training institute were selected as a participant. The nature of two different teachers choice and uses of examples in the classroom during their teaching training in primary school were documented. The lessons taught were observed, videotaped and both teachers were interviewed according to the selection and uses of examples. Data analysis were based on four categories of uses of examples identified and exemplified into variables, sequencing, representations and learning objectives (Rowland, 2008). The findings indicate that pre-service teachers need to consider carefully and raise awareness when choosing and using examples.

Teachers’ pedagogical knowledge applied to mathematics teaching relate strongly to students’ mathematics achievement. However, it is known that from the needs analysis study, underperformance schools in remote areas lack competent and professionally trained mathematics teachers, especially with regards to Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). With this concern, a research project was carried out with the intention of retooling/retraining the teachers on the PCK of the four main subjects, namely English, Bahasa Malaysia, science and mathematics. Eleven modules on KBSR mathematics were developed. These modules incorporated in the text innovative strategies that teachers could adopt and adapt in their classroom mathematics teaching. The strategies include the mathematics processes such as communication, reasoning, mathematics connections and problem solving. This paper will present findings from the needs analysis study, excerpts of the mathematics teaching implementation sessions using the modules which brought about tensions, receptiveness and willingness in implementing the modules as well as children receptiveness in class interaction.