This paper is theoretical in orientation and explores the limitations of the current field of mathematics education which has been dominated by social theories of learning. It is proposed that the field is approaching its limits for these theories and there is a need for shift that moves from the idiosyncratic possibilities of subjective meaning…

This paper reports on the experiences of newcomers at the 36th Annual MERGA Conference. The paper applies Wenger's (1998) social learning theory to explore the kinds of feedback that might assist newcomers. Questionnaire responses to describe the experience of ten newcomers and interview responses from five of the ten are reported. The…

This paper originates from a larger qualitative study exploring how teachers incorporate the affective domain into the primary mathematics classroom. This paper analyses teacher's experiences of mathematics and explores, using activity theory, how these experiences impact their teaching. An important factor to emerge from the data was teacher's…

This paper offers a critique of Evers' and Lakomski's 1991 book, "Knowing Educational Administration," and their discussion of neo-Marxist and critical theory. This paper argues that the science of educational administration is a historically contingent product of particular social forces and interests at a particular time. The kind of…

The study of education systems and educational programs cannot be adequate without reference to those systems' social context. This paper examines the Australian Transition Education program, enacted by the government in 1979, in light of its social context. The program's ostensible purpose was to prepare students for employment. The Liberal…

This paper presents an inquiry into teaching and learning practices in a Year 11 mathematics class at a private college for girls in Western Australia, studying a topic on vectors. The focus is on learning through problem-solving, where students used graphics calculators as a matter of routine. Constructivist and sociocultural theories were…

This research combines personal experience and a literature review to explore the issue of duality of social positioning of Australian ethnic minority girls. Caught between the minority cultural values and the larger culture's values of girls' education and multiculturalism, the dualism causes conflict within many minority girls. Of particular…

This paper presents a comparative analysis of the Western Australian Calculus Tertiary Entrance Examination (TEE) papers for 1996-99, two years before and two years after the introduction of graphics calculators on the examination. Changes in the questions that asked students to graph rational functions and students' answers to the corresponding…

Equal access to education is not enough to guarantee that all students are receiving the same quality education. Curricular knowledge does not exist value-free; it is affected by the context in which it exists--with teachers, school officials, syllabus committees, and education policymakers, among others, influencing the social process through…