The authors share the results of a research project involving the use of mathematics to develop students' Numeracy General Capabilities. The current article delves into an example of a teacher supporting 'good habits of mind' through focussing on the Critical Learning Disposition of accuracy.

This article builds on the three types of classroom talk identified by Mercer and Wegerif (1999) by adding complementary criteria that can be used when classifying student talk in the mathematics classroom.

Through Preschool and Foundation Level, children are confident in their knowledge about rocks. Five- to six-year-olds have firm ideas on what they consider rocks are and where they might be found (Preston, 2018). With the exception of children who are avid rock collectors, such knowledge usually comprises general, inconsistent ideas formed from…

This book provides an introduction to what it means to be numerate, and how numeracy can best be developed and nurtured in children and in adults. It also presents a cohesive coverage of numeracy development from early childhood to adulthood. This book draws on international research and practice to provide a comprehensive overview on the topic.…

Self-explanation prompts are questions that encourage students to explain their reasoning. In this article Kelly, Laura and Julie explain the benefits of using self-explanation prompts for teachers, describe how they align with the Australian Curriculum, and provide instructions for creating them.

Research shows that students benefit when they explain their mathematical reasoning (e.g., Booth et al., 2015); however, not all students will do this on their own without being prompted (Berthold, Eysink, & Renkl, 2009). Self-explanation prompts are questions posed to a student that encourage the student to explain what they have learned…

Now in its third edition, Health and Physical Education: Preparing Educators for the Future continues to provide a comprehensive overview of the theoretical underpinnings, knowledge, understanding and skills required to successfully teach health and physical education in Australia. Emphasising the importance of the development of movement…

Gap reasoning is an inappropriate strategy for comparing fractions. In this article, Patrick Sullivan and Joann Barnett look at the persistence of this misconception amongst students and the insights teachers can draw about students' reasoning.

Differentiating instruction can be difficult, however, when higher performing students yearn to be stretched and lower performing students benefit from scaffolded support. One way to meet these students' learning needs and everyone in-between is to embrace the notion of novel exploration in support of critical school mathematics concepts. Novelty…

The number and algebra strand of the "Australian Curriculum: Mathematics" (2015) advocates for holding together the study of number and algebra across years K-8--a position that mathematics educators have endorsed in many countries. This recommendation along with the report "Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics"…

The benefits of rich tasks, project-based learning, and other inquiry-based approaches in terms of student understanding and engagement with mathematics are well documented. Such pedagogies are consistent with the development of mathematical proficiencies as described in the "Australian Curriculum: Mathematics" (Australian Curriculum…

There are five words that are critical to an appreciation of what is "typical" in data sets that students encounter across the middle school years. The first three words--mean, median and mode--are nouns that define measures of typicality in data sets. The next two words--categorical and numerical--are adjectives that describe the types…

In providing a continued focus on tasks and activities that help to illustrate key ideas embedded in the new Australian Curriculum, the focus in this issue is on Measurement in the Measurement and Geometry strand. The small unit of work on measurement presented in this article has activities that can be modified to meet the requirements of…

Young children love to draw, and should be encouraged to explore drawing as a communication tool. Drawing is a means by which children can express their thoughts, interests and feelings, long before they learn to write. We know that: "children's drawings are vehicles for expression and communication" (Chang, 2012, p. 187). This form of…

The importance of mathematical visual images is indicated by the introductory paragraph in the Statistics and Probability content strand of the Australian Curriculum, which draws attention to the importance of learners developing skills to analyse and draw inferences from data and "represent, summarise and interpret data and undertake…