This paper reports on university students' responses to an inverse proportion question. The authors conclude that inverse proportion is a difficult concept that requires constant reinforcement, using approaches to teaching that facilitate deeper conceptual understanding.

This book provides a critical review of research in mathematics education published in or about the Australasian region in the four years from 2020 to 2023. Research in Mathematics Education in Australasia 2020-2023 (RiMEA 2020-2023) is the eleventh edition of the four-yearly review of mathematics education research in Australasia. It is compiled…

The purpose of this article is to describe a couple of challenging mathematical problems that involve paper folding. These problem solving tasks can be used to foster geometric and algebraic thinking among students. The context of paper folding makes some of the abstract mathematical ideas involved relatively concrete. When implemented…

To explore the mathematics learning experiences of those more likely to come from non-traditional educational backgrounds, ten students studying one or two maths units in the Skills for Tertiary Education Preparatory Studies (STEPS) at CQUniversity Australia were interviewed. The aim was to investigate how these students learnt to become…

Closed captioning of instructional videos is a topic that has not seen much discussion despite its importance for hearing-impaired students and recent legal ramifications if videos are not appropriately captioned. In particular, it is unclear what best practice in captioning videos should be to benefit all learners in disciplines such as…

In 2014 we commenced working on the Inspiring Mathematics and Science in Teacher Education (IMSITE) project, aimed at improving mathematics and science education in Australia by improving the recruitment, development, and retention of mathematics and science teachers. In this project we undertook a range of activities, the most exciting of which…

For many scientists, researchers and students Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulation is an important and necessary tool to perform Bayesian analyses. The simulation is often presented as a mathematical algorithm and then translated into an appropriate computer program. However, this can result in overlooking the fundamental and deeper…

The use of handheld CAS technology in undergraduate mathematics courses in Australia is paradoxically shrinking under sustained disapproval or disdain from the professional mathematics community. Mathematics education specialists argue with their mathematics colleagues over a range of issues in course development and this use of CAS or even…

In this article, the authors begin by considering symbolic literacy in mathematics. Next, they examine the origins of misuse of the equals sign by primary and junior secondary students, where "=" has taken on an operational meaning. They explain that in algebra, students need both the operational and relational meanings of the equals…

The purpose of this article is to describe a couple of challenging mathematical problems that involve paper folding. These problem-solving tasks can be used to foster geometric and algebraic thinking among students. The context of paper folding makes some of the abstract mathematical ideas involved relatively concrete. When implemented…

Students who are studying introductory statistics units but are enrolled in non-statistics majors often struggle with the content, and do not stay engaged. Support structures are in place at many Australian universities to help these students. Most of these are face-to-face support centres that the students can visit during opening hours. To…

Second year mathematics is a compulsory course for all students enrolled in engineering and mathematics programmes at the university, and it is taken by approximately 120 students each year. The pass rate of the course had been below expectations in the past years. In order to improve the predicament, quizzes which provided a mark incentive were…

Peer group learning is the name we have given to a particular type of collaborative learning that has been implemented as part of an action research project designed to improve teaching and learning of first year university mathematics at James Cook University. Using an innovation-decision process model we analysed the response of academics to the…

In this article, the authors present an approach to developing open-ended problems through capturing contextualised mathematics in photographs. They draw upon their research with the Problem Posing Research Project, a collaborative venture between an Australian and a Canadian university to broaden pre-service teachers pedagogical practices in the…

This article describes a laboratory module on Fourier series and Gibbs phenomenon which was undertaken by 32 Year 12 students. It shows how the use of CAS played the role of an "amplifier" by making higher level mathematical concepts accessible to students of year 12. Using Mathematica students were able to visualise Fourier series of…