Mathematics: Essential Research, Essential Practice. Volumes 1 and 2. Proceedings of the 30th Annual Conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia

This is a record of the proceedings of the 30th annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (MERGA). The theme of the conference is "Mathematics: Essential research, essential practice." The theme draws attention to the importance of developing and maintaining links between research and practice and ties in with the joint day of presentations with the 21st biennial conference of the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers (AAMT). This special feature highlights the benefits of collaboration between researchers, practicing classroom teachers, and curriculum developers. Volume 1 contains the following papers: (1) The Beginnings of MERGA (Ken Clements); (2) Teaching and Learning by Example: The Annual Clements/Foyster Lecture (Helen L. Chick); (3) Introducing Students to Data Representation and Statistics (Richard Lehrer); (4) Studies in the Zone of Proximal Awareness (John Mason, Helen Drury and Liz Bills); (5) Empowered to Teach: A Practice-based Model of Teacher Education (Janette Bobi); (6) Communicating Students' Understanding of Undergraduate Mathematics using Concept Maps (Karoline Afamasaga-Fuata'i); (7) Primary Student Teachers' Diagnosed Mathematical Competence in Semester One of their Studies (Karoline Afamasaga-Fuata'i, Paul Meyer and Naomi Falo); (8) An Online Survey to Assess Student Anxiety and Attitude Response to Six Different Mathematical Problems (Vincent Anderson); (9) Mathematical Investigations: A Primary Teacher Educator's Narrative Journey of Professional Awareness (Judy Bailey); (10) Describing Mathematics Departments: The Strengths and Limitations of Complexity Theory and Activity Theory (Kim Beswick, Anne Watson and Els De Geest); (11) Three Student Tasks in a Study of Distribution in a "Best Practice" Statistics Classroom (Anthony Bill and Jane Watson); (12) Teacher Researchers Questioning their Practice (Linda Bonne & Ruth Pritchard); (13) Imagined Classrooms: Prospective Primary Teachers Visualise their Ideal Mathematics Classroom (Kathy Brady); (14) Early Notions of Functions in a Technology-Rich Teaching and Learning Environment (TRTLE) (Jill Brown); (15) Collective Argumentation and Modelling Mathematics Practices Outside the Classroom (Raymond Brown and Trevor Redmond); (16) Visual Perturbances in Digital Pedagogical Media (Nigel Calder); (17) Professional Experience in Learning to Teach Secondary Mathematics: Incorporating Pre-service Teachers into a Community of Practice (Michael Cavanagh and Anne Prescott); (18) Young Children's Accounts of their Mathematical Thinking (Jill Cheeseman and Barbara Clarke); (19) Mathematical Reform: What Does the Journey Entail for Teachers? (Linda Cheeseman); (20) Year Six Fraction Understanding: A Part of the Whole Story (Doug M. Clarke, Anne Roche and Annie Mitchell); (21) Teaching as Listening: Another Aspect of Teachers' Content Knowledge in the Numeracy Classroom (Ngaire Davies and Karen Walker); (22) Essential Differences between High and Low Performers' Thinking about Graphically-Oriented Numeracy Items (Carmel M. Diezmann, Tom J. Lowrie and Nahum Kozak); (23) High School Students' Use of Patterns and Generalizations (Jaguthsing Dindyal); (24) The Teacher, The Tasks: Their Role in Students' Mathematical Literacy (Katherine Doyle); (25) Informal Knowledge and Prior Learning: Student Strategies for Identifying and Locating Numbers on Scales (Michael Drake); (26) Documenting the Knowledge of Low-Attaining Third- and Fourth-Graders: Robyn's and Bel's Sequential Structure and Multidigit Addition and Subtraction (David Ellemor-Collins, Robert Wright and Gerard Lewis); (27) Interdisciplinary Modelling in the Primary Mathematics Curriculum (Lyn English); (28) Students' Tendency to Conjoin Terms: An Inhibition to Their Development of Algebra (Judith Falle); (29) Towards "Breaking the Cycle of Tradition" in Primary Mathematics (Sandra Frid and Len Sparrow); (30) Exploring the Number Knowledge of Children to Inform the Development of a Professional Learning Plan for Teachers in the Ballarat Diocese as a Means of Building Community Capacity (Ann Gervasoni, Teresa Hadden and Kathie Turkenburg); (31) Technology-Enriched Teaching of Secondary Mathematics: Factors Influencing Innovative Practice (Merrilyn Goos and Anne Bennison); (32) Supporting an Investigative Approach to Teaching Secondary School Mathematics: A Professional Development Model (Merrilyn Goos, Shelley Dole, and Katie Makar); (33) Identity and Mathematics: Towards a Theory of Agency in Coming to Learn Mathematics (Peter Grootenboer and Robyn Zevenbergen); (34) Categorisation of Mental Computation Strategies to Support Teaching and to Encourage Classroom Dialogue (Judy Hartnett); (35) Student Experiences of VCE Further Mathematics (Sue Helme and Stephen Lamb); (36) Video Evidence: What Gestures Tell Us About Students' Understanding of Rate of Change (Sandra Herbert and Robyn Pierce); (37) The Role of Dynamic Interactive Technological Tools in Preschoolers' Mathematical Patterning (Kate Highfield and Joanne Mulligan); (38) Students Representing Mathematical Knowledge through Digital Filmmaking (Geoff Hilton); (39) What Does it Mean for an Instructional Task to be Effective? (Lynn Hodge, Jana Visnovska, Qing Zhao and Paul Cobb); (40) A School-Community Model for Enhancing Aboriginal Students' Mathematical Learning (Peter Howard and Bob Perry); (41) Benchmarking Preservice Teachers' Perceptions of their Mentoring for Developing Mathematics Teaching Practices (Peter Hudson); (42) Relational or Calculational Thinking: Students Solving Open Number Equivalence Problems (Jodie Hunter); (43) Scaffolding Small Group Interactions (Roberta Hunter); (44) Numeracy in Action: Students Connecting Mathematical Knowledge to a Range of Contexts (Chris Hurst); and (45) A Story of a Student Fulfilling a Role in the Mathematics Classroom (Naomi Ingram). Volume 2 contains the following papers: (1) Secondary-Tertiary Transition: What Mathematics Skills Can and Should We Expect This Decade? (Nicolas Jourdan, Patricia Cretchley and Tim Passmore); (2) The Power of Writing for all Pre-service Mathematics Teachers (Keith McNaught); (3) "Connection Levers:" Developing Teachers' Expertise with Mathematical Inquiry (Katie Makar); (4) Acquiring the Mathematics Register in te reo Maori (Tamsin Meaney, Uenuku Fairhall and Tony Trinick); (5) Teaching Ratio and Rates for Abstraction (Mike Mitchelmore, Paul White and Heather McMaster); (6) Setting a Good Example: Teachers' Choice of Examples and their Contribution to Effective Teaching of Numeracy (Tracey Muir); (7) Developing the Concept of Place Value (Mala Saraswathy Nataraj and Michael O. J. Thomas); (8) Interdisciplinary Learning: Development of Mathematical Confidence, Value, and the Interconnectedness of Mathematics Scales (Dawn Kit Ee Ng and Gloria Stillman); (9) Mathematical Methods and Mathematical Methods Computer Algebra System (CAS) 2006--Concurrent Implementation with a Common Technology Free Examination (Pam Norton, David Leigh-Lancaster, Peter Jones and Michael Evans); (10) A Concrete Approach to Teaching Symbolic Algebra (Stephen Norton and Jane Irvin); (11) Developing Positive Attitudes towards Algebra (Stephen Norton and Jane Irvin); (12) Changing Our Perspective on Measurement: A Cultural Case Study (Kay Owens and Wilfred Kaleva); (13) Enhancing Student Achievement in Mathematics: Identifying the Needs of Rural and Regional Teachers in Australia (Debra Panizzon and John Pegg); (14) The Growth of Early Mathematical Patterning: An Intervention Study (Marina Papic and Joanne Mulligan); (15) Whole Number Knowledge and Number Lines Help to Develop Fraction Concepts (Catherine Pearn and Max Stephens); (16) Identifying and Analysing Processes in NSW Public Schooling Producing Outstanding Educational Outcomes in Mathematics (John Pegg, Debra Panizzon and Trevor Lynch); (17) Teachers Research their Practice: Developing Methodologies that Reflect Teachers' Perspectives (Ruth Pritchard and Linda Bonne); (18) Teacher Professional Learning in Mathematics: An Example of a Change Process (Pauline Rogers); (19) Seeking Evidence of Thinking and Mathematical Understandings in Students' Writing (Anne Scott); (20) Utilising the Rasch Model to Gain Insight into Students' Understandings of Class Inclusion Concepts in Geometry (Penelope Serow); (21) Exploring Teachers' Numeracy Pedagogies and Subsequent Student Learning across Five Dimensions of Numeracy (Jane Skalicky); (22) The Complexities for New Graduates Planning Mathematics Based on Student Need (Carole Steketee and Keith McNaught); (23) Students' Emerging Algebraic Thinking in the Middle School Years (Max Stephens); (24) A Framework for Success in Implementing Mathematical Modelling in the Secondary Classroom (Gloria Stillman, Peter Galbraith, Jill Brown and Ian Edwards); (25) Eliciting Positive Student Motivation for Learning Mathematics (Peter Sullivan and Andrea McDonough); (26) Learning from Children about their Learning with and without ICT using Video-Stimulated Reflective Dialogue (Howard Tanner and Sonia Jones); (27) Dependency and Objectification in a Year 7 Mathematics Classroom: Insights from Sociolinguistics (Steve Thornton); (28) Pedagogical Practices with Digital Technologies: Pre-service and Practicing Teachers (Colleen Vale); (29) Procedural Complexity and Mathematical Solving Processes in Year 8 Mathematics Textbook Questions (Jill Vincent and Kaye Stacey); (30) Designing Effective Professional Development: How do we Understand Teachers' Current Instructional Practices? (Jana Visnovska); (31) "Doing Maths:" Children Talk About Their Classroom Experiences (Fiona Walls); (32) The Role of Pedagogy in Classroom Discourse (Margaret Walshaw and Glenda Anthony); (33) Australian Indigenous Students: The Role of Oral Language and Representations in the Negotiation of Mathematical Understanding (Elizabeth Warren, Janelle Young and Eva deVries); (34) Student Change Associated with Teachers' Professional Learning (Jane Watson, Kim Beswick, Natalie Brown and Rosemary Callingham); (35) Choosing to Teach in the "STEM" Disciplines: Characteristics and Motivations of Science, ICT, and Mathematics Teachers (Helen M. G. Watt, Paul W. Richardson and James Pietsch); (36) Percentages as Part Whole Relationships (Paul White, Sue Wilson, Rhonda Faragher and Mike Mitchelmore); (37) My Struggle with Maths May Not Have Been a Lonely One: Bibliotherapy in a Teacher Education Number Theory Unit (Sue Wilson); (38) Students' Conceptual Understanding of Equivalent Fractions (Monica Wong and David Evans); (39) Statistics Teachers as Scientific Lawyers (Joanne Woodward and Maxine Pfannkuch); (40) Developing Pedagogical Tools for Intervention: Approach, Methodology, and an Experimental Framework (Robert Wright, David Ellemor-Collins and Gerard Lewis); (41) Pedagogy and Interactive Whiteboards: Using an Activity Theory Approach to Understand Tensions in Practice (Robyn Zevenbergen and Steve Lerman); (42) International Perspectives on Early Years Mathematics (Jillian Fox); (43) Early Childhood Mathematics Education Research: What is Needed Now? (Bob Perry and Sue Dockett); (44) Trimangles and Kittens: Mathematics Within Socio-dramatic Play in a New Zealand Early Childhood Setting (Shiree Lee); (45) Children's Number Knowledge in the Early Years of Schooling (Ann Gervasoni); (46) Listening to Students' Voices in Mathematics Education (Brian Doig, Susie Groves, Coral Campbell, Judith Mousley, and Gaye Williams); (47) Students' Pedagogical Knowledge: A Source of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (Brian Doig and Susie Groves); (48) Research Enriched by the Student Voice (Gaye Williams); (49) Listening to Student Opinions about Group Assessment (Judith Mousley and Coral Campbell); (50) Profiles of Thinking Skills and Levels of Motivation in a Problem-Solving Task (Sarah Buckley, Mary Ainley and Pip Pattison); (51) An Investigation of Mathematics Strategies in Traditional School Contexts and Real-World Contexts (Julie Clark and Kathy Brady); (52) Maori Student's Perspective on Their Mathematical Journey Through Maori Medium (Leeana Herewini); (53) Some Methodological Considerations in the Estonian Study about Students' Beliefs in Mathematics: Is Triangulation Necessary? (Kirsti Kislenko); (54) Progress in Mathematics--Learning through Home School Partnership (Denise Smith and Gaynor Terrill); (55) Exploring Data Representation and Statistical Reasoning through Integrated Investigations in a Grade 2 Classroom (Karen Ahearn); (56) Reform and Assessment Practice: The Need for an Investigation (Julie Anderson); (57) Autobiographical Research and Mathematics Curriculum (Andy Begg); (58) Mathematically Gifted Students Managing School Transfer (Brenda Bicknell); (59) Improving Procedures for Effective Teaching (Murray Black, Farida Kachapova and Ilias Kachapov); (60) Using Counter-Examples and Paradoxes in Teaching Probability: Students' Attitudes (Murray Black, Farida Kachapova, Sergiy Klymchuk and Ilias Kachapov); (61) Using Cabri Geometry to Explore the Geometric Properties of Parallelograms in Year 7 Mathematics Classrooms (Sahar Bokosmaty); (62) Defining Teacher Knowledge Needed in the Teaching of Statistics at Primary School Level (Tim Burgess); (63) Year 12 Students' Participation in Higher Mathematics Courses (Mohan Chinnappan, Stephen Dinham, Tony Herrington and Dale Scott); (64) Pre-service Primary Teachers Developing Positive Attitudes towards Teaching Mathematics (Julie Clark); (65) Measuring the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Language-In-Use for Algebra Learning: A Multi-Level Nested Modelling and DEA Approach (Robert de la Serna); (66) Te Poutama Tau (TPT): An Indigenous Response to the Numeracy Development Project 2002-2006 (Wini Emery and Leeana Herewini); (67) "I Have a Fear of Maths and it Does Worry Me a Bit as a Future Teacher:" The Cycle of Maths Anxiety (Gillian Frankcom); (68) Using Electronic Handwriting and Tablet PCs to Enhance Distance Students' Understanding of First Year Mathematics at University (Linda Galligan, Birgit Loch, Janet Taylor and Christine McDonald); (69) Mathematical Modelling in CAS Clothing (Vince Geiger, Rhonda Faragher and Trevor Redmond); (70) The Cognitive and Pedagogical Affordances of Digital Learning Tools on Early Mathematical Development (Kristy Goodwin, Joanne Mulligan and John Hedberg); (71) Revisions and Extensions of a Pirie-Kieren-Based Teaching Model (Peter Hughes); (72) An Insight into Norwegian Students' Thoughts about Mathematics (Kirsti Kislenko); (73) The Impact of Didactical Contract on Students' Perceptions of their Intentional Learning Acts (Troels Lange and Tamsin Meaney); (74) The Impact of an Intervention on the Development of Mathematical Pattern and Structure in the First Year of Schooling (Joanne Mulligan, Mike Mitchelmore, Coral Kemp, Jennie Marston and Kate Highfield); (75) Activity Theory as a Framework to Analyse the Positive Influence of Formative Assessment on Student Learning (Trish O'Toole); (76) Teaching Geometry with CAS in the Junior Secondary Classroom: A Case Study (Warren Palmer); (77) Wanted: One Great Maths Teacher! (Pamela Perger); (78) Building Early Childhood Educators' Knowledge, Skills and Confidence in the Facilitation and Assessment of Young Children's Mathematical Learning (Bob Perry, Elspeth Harley and Sue Dockett); (79) CAS in the Middle Secondary Years: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (Robyn Pierce); (80) Myths and Positioning: Insights from Hermeneutics (Steve Thornton); (81) Misconceptions in Locating Negative Decimals on the Number Line (Wanty Widjaja, Kaye Stacey and Vicki Steinle); and (82) Proportional Reasoning: A Global or Localised Development? (Vince Wright). [Individual papers contain references, figures, tables, and appendices.