Search

Despite curriculum expectations, many students, including a disproportionate number of girls, do not 'just know' (retrieve) single-digit addition facts by Year 3. The current study employed structured interviews to explore which strategies Year 3/4 students (n = 166) used when solving more difficult addition combinations. Results revealed that students preference the near-doubles strategy when the difference between the addends was one, the bridging-through-10 strategy when one of the addends was a nine, and the count-on-from-larger strategy when a derived strategy was more effortful. Moreover, whereas boys were more inclined to use derived strategies, girls were almost three times more likely to use the count-on-from-larger strategy.

The development of mathematical reasoning is a key proficiency for mathematics within the Australian Curriculum. However, reasoning can be difficult for teachers to assess, particularly with pen and paper tests. In this study, interview tasks were designed across three curriculum areas at three different levels to assess student reasoning through the use of examples and non-examples. Non-examples can be used to assist in building boundaries and deepening conceptual understanding. Through the interview, teacher and student dialogue can help students to demonstrate reasoning and clarify concepts through explanation and justification.

Measuring computational fluency, an aspect of procedural fluency, is complex. Many attempts to measure this construct have emphasised accuracy and efficiency at the expense of flexibility and appropriate strategy choice. Efforts to account for these latter constructs through assessing children's computational reasoning using structured interviews (e.g., MAI), are necessarily time-intensive. In this paper, we introduce a novel measure of Mental Computational Fluency with Addition (MCF-A) that attempts to incorporate these aspects by requiring children to reason from the perspective of another child. We describe results of a pilot study using the MCF-A with 169 Year 3 and 4 students.

This paper provides insight about the development of addition and subtraction strategies for nearly 22,000 Australian primary school children in 2016. The children were each assessed by their teacher using a task-based assessment interview that identified the strategies they used to mentally perform addition and subtraction, and matched these to a growth point framework. The findings highlight the broad distribution of strategies used by children in each grade level and suggest that few children, including those in Grade 6, reach Growth Point 6 that involves the mental calculation of two-digit and three-digit numbers. These findings have important implications for classroom teaching and professional learning.

A central premise of this project is that teachers learn from the act of teaching a lesson and that this learning is evident in the planning and teaching of a subsequent lesson. We are studying the knowledge construction of mathematics teachers utilising multi-camera research techniques during lesson planning, classroom interactions and reflection. This paper reports on the learning of two Year 7 teachers, one in Melbourne and one in Chicago, teaching the same initial lesson focusing on division, remainders and context. Both teachers claimed to have learned about their students' mathematical thinking after teaching the initial lesson, but found planning a second lesson to accommodate this learning challenging.

Mathematical knowledge in classrooms is mediated through the use of both technical and informal language. This paper is a report of a study of the language use of teachers as they examine students' work and discuss teaching for the topic of fraction operations. This provides a window on their pedagogical content knowledge and also on the way in which language is used to make sense of mathematical knowledge, either personally or for students. It was found that some mathematical knowledge appeared to be "taken as understood," perhaps because the expected words were used.

This study investigated how six Year Four (9-10 years old) students interacted with a dynamic (zoomable) digital number line to demonstrate knowledge and understandings of decimal fractions. Results from a task-based interview indicated that the zoomable number line is able to assist students in developing conceptual understandings of decimal density, place value and relative size. The app proved to be a powerful mathematical representation of decimal fractions because of its dynamic affordances that allowed the students to 'see' concepts that would otherwise be 'unseeable' when using a traditional static number line.

This paper reports on 13 Grade 3 students' approaches to partitive and quotitive division word problems. Of particular interest was the extent to which students drew on their knowledge of multiplication to solve division problems. The findings suggest that developing a relationship between multiplication and division is more significant than differentiating the types of division.

Despite the emphasis that children should have a robust sense of number and a thorough understanding of fraction (National Mathematics Advisory Panel, 2008), many students continue to struggle with these concepts. Booker Diagnostic Assessment Framework (Booker, 2011) can inform decision about teaching that improves students' learning outcomes. Focusing on decimal numbers, this paper reports how effective use of the framework and instructional materials can help three teachers challenge their students' misconceptions with mathematics, leading to improved learning outcomes.

Upper primary school students' difficulties with decimal place value are widely recognised due largely to the availability of assessment tools that accurately identify students' misconceptions in this domain. Yet, many students' decimal difficulties seem to stem from a lack of understanding of whole number place value for which there are few, if any, comprehensive assessment tools at the upper primary school level. The inevitable result of this is that teachers tend to assume upper primary students have a deeper understanding of place value than is often the case and limit their teaching to fairly routine tasks that do not expose student misconceptions. This paper describes the derivation of a research-based, multi-dimensional Hypothetical Learning Trajectory for whole number place value. It explains the process involved in identifying the key aspects of place value and includes indicative examples of the assessment items used to evaluate this.

The Calculators in Primary Mathematics Project in Australia was a long-term investigation into the effects of the introduction of calculators on the learning and teaching of primary mathematics. The Australian project commenced with children who were in kindergarten and grade 1 in 1990, moving up through the schools to grade 4 level by 1993. Children were given their own calculators to use when they wished, while teachers were provided with some systematic professional support. Over 60 teachers and 1,000 children participated in the project. This paper describes some critical features of project classrooms which supported the development of number sense and reports on the results of interviews with 4th-grade children (n=58), approximately half of whom had long-term experience with calculators. Children with long-term experience with calculators performed better on the 12 mental computation interview items overall, the 24 number knowledge items overall, and the 3 estimation items taken individually. Overall, their performance was better on 34 of the 39 items, with the greatest differences in performance in mental computation generally occurring on the most difficult items. Their pattern of use of standard algorithms, left-right methods, and invented methods for mental computation items did not vary greatly from that of the non-calculator children. Contains 39 references. (MKR)

The Calculators in Primary Mathematics Project was a long-term investigation into the effects of the introduction of calculators on the learning and teaching of primary mathematics. The Australian project commenced with children who were in kindergarten and grade 1 in 1990, moving up through the schools to grade 4 level by 1993. Children were given their own calculators to use when they wished, while teachers were provided with some systematic professional support. Over 60 teachers and 1,000 children participated in the project. This paper gives an overview of the project, with particular emphasis on the ways in which teachers incorporated calculators into their classrooms and the resulting long-term learning outcomes for the students. It first reports on a survey of 700 primary, 7th-, and 8th-grade teachers which established that teachers now support calculator use, even in the first grades, but that actual use falls far behind the support expressed. A brief description is given of the major ways in which the calculator was used in project schools--as a computational device, as a recording device, to count, and as an object to explore. Testing of 3rd- and 4th-grade students (n=225) established that children did understand the number system better after sustained calculator use and that they were better able to choose an appropriate operation in a word problem. A series of interviews showed that calculator use had assisted children to develop number sense and skills of mental computation. Contains 20 references. (MKR)

This research study investigates how pre-service teachers integrate statistical content, students' thinking, and pedagogy as they examine how 11- to 12-year olds develop mathematically. The findings provide insights into: a) how pre-service teachers identify some of the difficulties that students commonly have, and b) what pedagogical approaches pre-service teachers use to address students' difficulties and enhance students' learning. These findings have implications for the design and delivery of professional development that improves teachers' knowledge, understanding, and skills in teaching statistics.

One of the common tasks of inferential statistics is to compare two data sets. Long before formal statistical procedures, however, students can be encouraged to make comparisons between data sets and therefore build up intuitive statistical reasoning. Such tasks also give meaning to the data collection students may do. This study describes the answers given by beginning university students to tasks involving comparing data sets in graphical form, originally designed for students between Grades 3 to 9. The results show that whereas all the students had successfully completed either pre-tertiary mathematics or a bridging mathematics course many had similar difficulties to students of a younger age. In particular, they did not use a measure of centre or proportional reasoning when appropriate.

This document contains the second volume of the proceedings of the 30th Annual Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. Conference presentations are centered around the theme "Mathematics at the Centre." This volume features 60 research reports by presenters with last names beginning between Abr and Dri: (1) The Odds of Understanding the Law of Large Numbers: A Design for Grounding Intuitive Probability in Combinatorial Analysis (Dor Abrahamson and Rose M. Cendak); (2) Imaginary-Symbolic Relations, Pedagogic Resources and the Constitution of Mathematics for Teaching in In-Service Mathematics Teacher Education (Jill Adler and Zain Davis); (3) Relationship between Pre-Service Mathematics Teachers' Teaching and Learning Beliefs and Their Practices (Hatice Akkoc and Feral Ogan-Bekiroglu); (4) Teachers' Awareness of Dimensions of Variation: A Mathematics Intervention Project (Thabit Al-Murani); (5) The Student Teacher and the Others: Multimembership on the Process of Introducing Technology in the Classroom (Nelia Amado and Susana Carreira); (6) Improving Student Teachers' Understanding of Fractions (Solange Amorim Amato); (7) Autodidactic Learning of Probabilistic Concepts through Games (Miriam Amit and Irma Jan); (8) Graduate Students' Processes in Generating Examples of Mathematical Objects (Samuele Antonini); (9) Reasoning in an Absurd World: Difficulties with Proof by Contradiction (Samuele Antonini and Maria Alessandra Mariotti); (10) Will Penelope Choose Another Bridegroom? Looking for an Answer through Signs (Ferdinando Arzarello, Luciana Bazzini, Francesca Ferrara, Ornella Robutti, Cristina Sabena, and Bruna Villa); (11) Motivation and Perceptions of Classroom Culture in Mathematics of Students across Grades 5 to 7 (Chryso Athanasiou and George N. Philippou); (12) Deductive Reasoning: Different Conceptions and Approaches (Michal Ayalon and Ruhama Even); (13) The Tendency to Use Intuitive Rules among Students with Different Piagetian Cognitive Levels (Reuven Babai); (14) Coming to Appreciate the Pedagogical Uses of CAS (Lynda Ball and Kaye Stacey); (15) Students' Conceptions of "m" and "c": How to Tune a Linear Function (Caroline Bardini and Kaye Stacey); (16) A Contradiction between Pedagogical Content Knowledge and Teaching Indications (Ibrahim Bayazit and Eddie Gray); (17) Identifying and Supporting Mathematical Conjectures through the Use of Dynamic Software (David Benitez Mojica and Manuel Santos Trigo); (18) Students Constructing Representations for Outcomes of Experiments (Palma Benko and Carolyn A. Maher); (19) Logarithms: Snapshots from Two Tasks (Tanya Berezovski and Rina Zazkis); (20) Trying to Reach the Limit--The Role of Algebra in Mathematical Reasoning (Christer Bergsten); (21) Semiotic Sequence Analysis--Constructing Epistemic Types Empirically (Angelika Bikner-Ahsbahs); (22) Service Teaching: Mathematical Education of Students of Client Departments (Erhan Bingolbali, John Monaghan, and Tom Roper); (23) Students' Thinking about the Tangent Line (Irene Biza, Constantinos Christou, and Theodossios Zachariades); (24) Habermas' Theory of Rationality as a Comprehensive Frame for Conjecturing and Proving in School (Paulo Boero); (25) Extending Students' Understanding of Decimal Numbers via Realistic Mathematical Modeling and Problem Posing (Cinzia Bonotto); (26) Different Media, Different Types of Collective Work in Online Continuing Teacher Education: Would You Pass the Pen, Please? (Marcelo C. Borba and Rubia B. A. Zulatto); (27) Reformulating "Mathematical Modelling" in the Framework of the Anthropological Theory of Didactics (Marianna Bosch, Fco. Javier Garcia, Josep Gascon, and Luisa Ruiz Higueras); (28) Students' Impressions of the Value of Games for the Learning of Mathematics (Leicha A. Bragg); (29) The Transition from Arithmetic to Algebra: To Reason, Explain, Argue, Generalize and Justify (Trygve Breiteig and Barbro Grevholm); (30) Resisting Reform Pedagogy: Teacher and Learner Contributions (Karin Brodie); (31) Manifestations of Affordances of a Technology-Rich Teaching and Learning Environment (TRTLE) (Jill P. Brown); (32) Types of Representations of the Number Line in Textbooks (Alicia Bruno and Noemi Cabrera); (33) Educational Neuroscience: New Horizons for Research in Mathematics Education (Stephen R. Campbell); (34) Variability in a Probability Context: Developing Pre-Service Teachers' Understanding (Daniel L. Canada); (35) Implementing a Reform-Oriented Mathematics Syllabus: A Survey of Secondary Teachers (Michael Cavanagh); (36) Student's Modelling with a Lattice of Conceptions in the Domain of Linear Equations and Inequations (Hamid Chaachoua, Marilena Bittar, and Jean-Francois Nicaud); (37) Using Reading and Coloring to Enhance Incomplete Prover's Performance in Geometry Proof (Ying-Hao Cheng and Fou-Lai Lin); (38) Aspects of Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Decimals (Helen Chick, Monica Baker, Thuy Pham, and Hui Cheng); (39) Collaborative Action Research on Implementing Inquiry-Based Instruction in an Eighth Grade Mathematics Class: An Alternative Mode for Mathematics Teacher Professional Development (Erh-Tsung Chin, Yung-Chi Lin, Yann-Tyng Ko, Chi-Tung Chien, and Hsiao-Lin Tuan); (40) Routine and Novel Mathematical Solutions: Central-Cognitive or Peripheral-Affective Participation in Mathematics Learning (Mei-Shiu Chiu); (41) The Role of Self-Generated Problem Posing in Mathematics Exploration (Victor V. Cifarelli and Jinfa Cai); (42) A Longitudinal Study of Children's Mental Computation Strategies (Barbara Clarke, Doug M. Clarke, and Marj Horne); (43) Assessing Fraction Understanding Using Task-Based Interviews (Doug M. Clarke, Michal Sukenik, Anne Roche, and Annie Mitchell); (44) Evaluation of a Teaching Concept for the Development of Problem Solving Competences in Connection with Self-Regulation (Christina Collet and Regina Bruder); (45) Developing Probability Thinking in Primary School: A Case Study on the Constructive Role of Natural Language in Classroom Discussions (Valeria Consogno, Teresa Gazzolo, and Paulo Boero); (46) Collaboration with Teachers to Improve Mathematics Learning: Pedagogy at Three Levels (Tom J. Cooper, Annette R. Baturo, and Edlyn J. Grant); (47) "Aim High--Beat Yourself": Effective Mathematics Teaching in a Remote Indigenous Community (Tom J. Cooper, Annette R. Baturo, Elizabeth Warren, and Edlyn J. Grant); (48) Development of Children's Understanding of Length, Area, and Volume Measurement Principles (Margaret Curry, Michael Mitchelmore, and Lynne Outhred; (49) Mathematics-for-Teaching: The Cases of Multiplication and Division (Brent Davis, Elaine Simmt, and Dennis Sumara); (50) Generative Concept Images (Gary E. Davis and Catherine A. Pearn); (51) Developmental Assessment of Data Handling Performance Age 7-14 (Pauline Davis, Maria Pampaka, Julian Williams, and Lawrence Wo); (52) The Effect of Different Teaching Tools in Overcoming the Impact of the Intuitive Rules (Eleni Deliyianni, Eleni Michael, and Demetra Pitta-Pantazi); (53) Investigating Social and Individual Aspects in Teacher's Approaches to Problem Solving (Fien Depaepe, Erik De Corte, and Lieven Verschaffel); (54) Maths Avoidance and the Choice of University (Pietro Di Martino and Francesca Morselli); (55) Primary Students' Reasoning about Diagrams: The Building Blocks of Matrix Knowledge (Carmel M. Diezmann); (56) Integrating Errors into Developmental Assessment: "Time" for Ages 8-13 (Brian Doig, Julian Williams, Lawrence Wo, and Maria Pampaka); (57) Vygotsky's Everyday Concepts/Scientific Concepts Dialectics in School Context: A Case Study (Nadia Douek); (58) Creating Mathematical Models with Structures (Katherine Doyle); (59) Mechanisms for Consolidating Knowledge Constructs (Tommy Dreyfus, Nurit Hadas, Rina Hershkowitz, and Baruch Schwarz); and (60) Reconciling Factorizations Made with CAS and with Paper-and-Pencil: The Power of Confronting Two Media (Paul Drijvers, Carolyn Kieran, Andre Boileau, Fernando Hitt, Denis Tanguay, Luis Saldanha, and Jose Guzman). (Individual papers contain references.)

The first volume of the 29th annual conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education contains plenary lecture and research forum papers as listed below. Short oral communications papers, poster presentations, brief summaries of discussion groups, and working sessions are also included in the volume. The plenary lectures include: (1) Modelling Students' Learning in Argumentation and Mathematics Proof (Fou-Lai Lin); (2) Travelling the Road to Expertise (Stacey); (3) Telling Identities (Sfar and Prusak); and (4) Co-Constructing Artefacts and Knowledge in Net-Based Teams (Reimann). The plenary panel section includes: (1) What Do Studies Like PISA Mean to the Mathematics Education Community? (Jones); (2) From a Profile to the Scrutiny of Student Performance (Yoshinori); (3) The PISA-Study (Neubrand); (4) Some Results from the PISA 2003 International Assessment of Mathematics Learning (Kieran); and (5) The Foundation and Spectacle of [the Leaning Tower of] PISA (Williams). The first research forum (RF01) includes: (1) Not Everything Is Proportional (De Brock, Van Dooren, and Verschaffel); (2) Designing Instruction on Proportional Reasoning with Average Speed (Gravemeijer, van Galen, and Keijzer); (3) Folding Perimeters (Friedlander and Arcavi); and (4) The Dolls' House Classroom (Ainley and Pratt). The second research forum (RF02) includes: (1) Shaping a Multi-Dimensional Analysis of Signs (Arzarello, Ferrara, Robutti, Paola, and Sabena); (2) Working with Artefacts (Bussi and Maschietto); (3) The Role of Gestures in Mathematical Discourse (Edwards); (4) Connecting Talk, Gesture, and Eye Motion for the Microanalysis of Mathematics Learning (Ferrara and Nemirovsky); (5) Why Do Gestures Matter? Gestures as Semiotic Means of Objectification (Radford); (6) Gestures, Signs and Mathematisation (Williams); and (7) Building Intellectual Infrastructure to Expose and Understand Ever-Increasing Complexity (Kaput). The third research forum (RF03) includes: (1) Using Growth Points to Describe Pathways for Young Children's Number Learning (Gervasoni); (2) Number Attainment in Sri Lankan Primary Schools (Hart); and (3) Mathematics Recovery (Pearn). The fourth research forum (RF04) includes: (1) The Place of Theory in Mathematics Education Research (Lester, Jr.); (2) Theories of Mathematics Education (Lerman); (3) The Articulation of Symbol and Mediation in Mathematics Education (Armella); (4) Using Theory to Advance Our Understandings of Student Cognitive Development (Pegg and Tall); (5) Trends in the Evolution of Models and Modeling Perspectives on Mathematical Learning and Problem Solving (Lesh and English); and (6) Issues and Tendencies in German Mathematics-Didactics (Torner and Sriraman). (Individual papers contain references.)

This document contains the fifth volume of the proceedings of the 30th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. Conference presentations are centered around the theme "Mathematics at the Centre." This volume features 59 research reports by presenters with last names beginning between Sac and Zaz: (1) Bryan's Story: Classroom Miscommunication about General Symbolic Notation and the Emergence of a Conjecture during a CAS-Based Algebra Activity (Ana Isabel Sacristan and Carolyn Kieran); (2) A Teacher's Method to Introduce Story-Problems: Student-Generated Problems (Adalira Saenz-Ludlow); (3) "There's More than Meets the Eye": Analysing Verbal Protocols, Gazes and Sketches on External Mathematical Representations (Jonathan P. San Diego, James Aczel, Barbara Hodgson, and Eileen Scanlon); (4) Notions of Variability in Chance Settings (Ernesto Sanchez and Miguel Mercado Martinez); (5) Elementary Preservice Teacher Learning Levels (Victoria Sanchez and Miguel Mercado Martinez); (6) Mathematics Achievement: Sex Differences vs. Gender Differences (Dora Santos, Sonia Ursini, Martha Patricia Ramirez, and Gabriel Sanchez); (7) Self Assessment and Appropriation of Assessment Criteria (Leonor Santos and Anabela Gomes); (8) Drawing as Problem-Solving: Young Children's Mathematical Reasoning through Pictures (Carole Saundry and Cynthia Nicol); (9) The Role of the Teacher in Turning Claims to Arguments (Baruch Schwarz, Rina Hershkowitz, and Shirly Azmon); (10) Learning Mathematics for Teaching (Nanette Seago and Lynn Goldsmith); (11) Coherence of Mathematics Lessons in Japanese Eighth-Grade Classrooms (Yasuhiro Sekiguchi); (12) Triangle Property Relationships: Making the Connections (Penelope Serow); (13) Access to Mathematics versus Access to the Language of Power (Mamokgethi Setati); (14) Compartmentalization of Representation in Tasks Related to Addition and Subtraction Using the Number Line (Myria Shiakalli and Athanasios Gagatsis); (15)The Derivation of a Learning Assessment Framework for Multiplicative Thinking (Dianne Siemon, John Izard, Margarita Breed, and Jo Virgona); (16) Sources of Students' Frustration in Bridging Mathematics Courses (Anna Sierpinska); (17) What Makes a Good Problem? An Aesthetic Lens (Nathalie Sinclair and Sandra Crespo); (18) Discovering a Rule and Its Mathematical Justification in Modeling Activities Using Spreadsheet (Hong-chan Son and Hee-chan Lew); (19) Investigating Preservice Teachers' Understanding and Strategies on a Student's Errors of Reflective Symmetry (Ji-Won Son); (20) Exploring the Role Played by the Remainder in the Solution of Division Problems (Alina Galvao Spinillo and Sintria Labres Lautert); (21) Incomplete or Incorrect Understanding of Decimals: An Important Deficit for Student Nurses (Vicki Steinle and Robyn Pierce); (22) Proportional Reasoning: Variable Influencing the Problems Difficulty Level and One's Use of Problem Solving Strategies (Olof Bjorg Steinthorsdottir); (23) The Impact of the Intuitive Rule "If A Then B, If Not A Then Not B" in Perimeter and Area Tasks (Lambros Stephanou and Demetra Pitta-Pantazi); (24) Process-Object Difficulties in Linear Algebra: Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors (Sepideh Stewart and Michael O. J. Thomas); (25) Conceptual Changes as Dialectical Transformation (Nadia Stoyanova Kennedy); (26) Content Knowledge for Mathematics Teaching: The Case of Reasoning and Proving (Andreas J. Stylianides and Gabriel J. Stylianides); (27) "Making Proof Central to Pre-High School Mathematics Is an Appropriate Instructional Goal": Provable, Refutable, or Undecidable Proposition? (Gabriel J. Stylianides and Andreas J. Stylianides); (28) Power and Poverty--Whose, Where, and Why?: School Mathematics, Context and the Social Construction of "Disadvantage" (Dalene M. Swanson); (29) Documenting Learning in School-Based Mathematics Communities of Teachers (Paola Sztajn); (30) Research and Teaching--Can One Person Do Both? A Case Study (MichalTabach); (31) Computer "Knowledge" and Student's Images of Figures: The Case of Dragging (Varda Talmon and Michal Yerushalmy); (32) Graphics Calculators for Mathematics Learning in Singapore and Victoria (Australia): Teachers' Views (Hazel Tan and Helen J. Forgasz); (33) Vague Language in Greek and English Mathematical Talk: A Variation Study in Face-Work (Konstantinos Tatsis and Tim Rowland); (34) Teachers Using Computers in Mathematics: A Longitudinal Study (Michael O. J. Thomas); (35) Analysing Classroom Interactions Using Critical Discourse Analysis (Steve Thornton and Noemi Reynolds); (36) Pre-Service and In-Service Mathematics Teachers' Concept Images of Radian (Tahsin Topcu, Mahmut Kertil, Hatice Akkoc, Kamil Yilmaz, and Osman Onder); (37) Adaptive Expertise in the Number Domain 20-100 (Joke Torbeyns, Lien Vanderveken, Lieven Verschaffel, and Pol Ghesquiere); (38) Mathematical Activity in a Technological Workplace: Results from an Ethnographic Study (Chrissavgi Triantafillou and Despina Potari); (39) Pupils' Over-Use of Proportionality on Missing-Value Problems: How Numbers May Change Solutions (Wim Van Dooren, Dirk De Bock, Marleen Evers, and Lieven Verschaffel); (40) Arithmetical Procedures in the Solution of a Problem Involving Velocity (Veronica Vargas and Jose Guzman); (41) Introducing Algebraic Thinking to 13 Year-Old Students: The Case of the Inequality (Petros Verikios and Vassiliki Farmaki); (42) Why Is a Discontinuous Function Differentiable? (Antti Viholainen); (43) Overgeneralization of Linear Models: Presence and Characteristics among University Students (Monica Villareal, Cristina Esteley, and Humberto Alagia); (44) Educational Design Research in Mozambique: Starting Mathematics from Authentic Resources (Pauline Vos, Tiago G. Devesse, and Assane Rassul); (45) "The Big Test": A School Community Experiences Standardized Mathematics Assessment (Fiona Walls); (46) Numeracy Reform in New Zealand: Factors that Influence Classroom Enactment (Margaret Walshaw and Glenda Anthony); (47) An Investigation of Factors Influencing Teachers' Scoring Student Responses to Mathematics Constructed-Response Assessment Tasks (Ning Wang and Jinfa Cai); (48) Teacher Actions that Assist Young Students to Write Generalizations in Words and in Symbols (Elizabeth Warren); (49) Promoting Pre-Service Teachers' Understanding of Decimal Notation and Its Teaching (Wanty Widjaja and Kaye Stacey); (50) Impetus to Explore: Approaching Operational Deficiency Optimistically (Gaye Williams); (51) Generating and Evaluating Geometry Conjectures with Self-Directed Experiments (Chao-Jung Wu, Wing-Kwong Wong, Ying-Hao Cheng, and Yunn-Wen Lien); (52) The Distributions of van Hiele Levels of Geometric Thinking among 1st and 6th Graders (Der-bang Wu and Hsiu-Ian Ma); (53) Elementary Teacher Education and Teacher Efficacy toward Mathematics and Science (Su-Chiao Wu and Yu Liang Chang); (54) Spatial Rotation and Perspective Taking Abilities in Relation to Performance in Reflective Symmetry Tasks (Xenia Xistouri and Demetra Pitta-Pantazi); (55) Elementary Teachers' Mathematics Beliefs and Teaching Practices after a Curriculum Reform (Shirley M. Yates); (56) Inquiry Activities in a Classroom: Extra-Logical Processes of Illumination vs. Logical Process of Deductive and Inductive Reasoning. A Case Study (Oleksiy Yevdokimov); (57) Developments of a Child's Fraction Concepts with the Help of Psychological Tools: A Vygotsky's Cultural-Historical Perspective (Kaori Yoshida); (58) A Teacher's Treatment of Examples as Reflection of Her Knowledge-Base (Orit Zaslavsky, Guershon Harel, and Alfred Manaster); and (59) Cognitive Conflict and its Resolution via Pivotal/Bridging Example (Rina Zazkis and Egan Chernoff). (Individual papers contain references.)

This document contains the proceedings of the 25th annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australia (MERGA) held at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. The focus of this meeting is mathematics education in the South Pacific. Presentations are centered around the topic of numeracy in primary or elementary school. Papers include: (1) "A Samoan Perspective on Pacific Mathematics Education" (Karoline Afamasaga Fuata'i); (2) "The Process of Introducing New Tasks Using Dynamic Geometry into the Teaching of Mathematics" (Colette Laborde); (3) "Effectiveness and Efficiency of Calculator Use for Computation in Years 8-10" (Jack Bana and Rachel Shipley); (4) "A Problem-Based Schema Analysis in Algebra" (Mohan Chinnappan); (5) "An Investigation of Disjuncture between Graphing in School Mathematics and School Physics" (Patricia A. Forster); (6) "Single or Combination Grades in Mathematics in the Early Years" (Marj Horne); (7) "A Model for Teaching Numeracy Strategies" (Peter Hughes); (8) "Teacher Development for Inquiry Based Instructional Practice in Mathematics: A Poststructuralist Postscript" (Mary Klein); (9) "Patterns of Misperceptions in Linear Transformations: Four Illustrations" (Martin Lamb, Sam Leong, and John Malone); (10) "Common Errors in Mental Computations of Students in Grades 3-10" (Alistair McIntosh); (11) "Rethinking Curriculum: An Ethical Perspective" (Jim Neyland); (12) "Monitoring Effective Use of Computer Algebra Systems" (Robyn Pierce and Kaye Stacey); (13) "Professional Development of Teachers of Mathematics through Extended Collegial Dialogue: The ACT Mathematics Quality Teacher Program" (Steve Thornton and Kerrie Blain); and (14) "Validation of the New Zealand Number Framework" (Jenny Young-Loveridge and Vince Wright). The second volume also includes 22 short communications. (KHR)

A theory is proposed to explain the poor numeracy rates within Australia. The theory suggests that the education system does not adhere closely enough to known principles of skill acquisition. The theory provided a rationale for the development of a computer game designed to facilitate the acquisition of arithmetic skills in children. The full version of the game possessed three separate elements designed to encourage faster retrieval of arithmetic facts. A limited version of the game was also developed with only one of these features. The paper reports the results of an experiment that compared performance on standard arithmetic problems following the playing of either version of the game with that observed following two control conditions: 1. Normal classroom lessons; 2. Arithmetic problems performed on a computer. The accuracy of performance on the standard arithmetic problems improved in all conditions at an equivalent rate, reflecting a general practice effect. The speed of performance on these problems became slower in all conditions except following play of the limited version of the game, where speed increased. This far transfer from a game task to standard arithmetic problems was interpreted as support for the proposal that appropriately designed educational games can facilitate the acquisition of arithmetic skills. Some limitations of the study are discussed and recommendations are made that could improve the effectiveness of the full version of the game. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]