Research suggests that teachers of mathematics are frequently reluctant to pose challenging tasks to students. Reasons for this reluctance include fears of negative student reactions, time and resource constraints, and a lack of relevant teacher content knowledge. The current study involved interviewing three early primary-grade (elementary)…

Building on recent research into the importance of positive teacher emotions for student learning experiences, the current study involved five upper primary teachers at a Victorian government school developing integrated mathematics units built around topic areas of personal interest or passion. Respective students (n=88) elected to participate in…

The current investigation systematically contrasted teaching with cognitively demanding (challenging) tasks using a task-first lesson structure with that of a teach-first lesson structure in a primary school setting (Year 1 and 2). The findings indicate that there is more than one way of incorporating challenge tasks into mathematics lessons to…

The Smarties-Box Challenge encourages students to apply several different mathematical capabilities and concepts--such as, estimation, multiplication, and the notion of being systematic--to solve a complex, multistep problem. To effectively engage in the Smarties-Box Challenge, students are required to demonstrate aspects of all four proficiency…

This article describes activities in which students deepen their relational understanding of the equals sign through exploring inequalities in a competitive dice game, built around the familiar fairy-tale "The Three Little Pigs" and "The Big Bad Wolf." The activity can be adapted to different abilities by choosing more or less…