What Australian Primary School Students Value in Mathematics Learning: A WIFI Preliminary Study

Grades 5/6 students in Melbourne reported the valuing of "achievement," "open-endedness," "relevance," "humanism," "ICT," and "openness" most in mathematics learning. Although prior research suggested that students in East Asia valued "achievement" most as well, there was an observed difference in the nature of this valuing in Australia. Knowledge of what students value reveals the pedagogical potential of values, and also allows teachers to identify values related to effective mathematics learning. Values alignment facilitates further work with these values.