When we give meanings to a physical space, we engage in place-making. With technologies, the place-making activities can be extended to virtual and hybrid spaces. In games, actual or virtual space can gain narrative and meaning transforming into a playce (i.e., a place for play). We suggest that playce-making (i.e., transforming a space into a…

The transition from elementary to secondary school presents challenges for students, including the shift from a streamed to a destreamed mathematics curriculum. This paper explores the Ontario context, where all students began taking the same grade 9 mathematics course in 2021-2022. The Grade 9 Mathematics Research Project investigated current…

This article considers the roles of school leaders, a departmental-level leader and a teacher in implementing a reform within a school, and the nature of the relations between the groups and individuals that attended this process. Drawing upon Bourdieu's "thinking tools", the article analyses the nature of the leadership practices…

In this paper I discuss how reform in science education is interpreted by Barma as she recounts the story of Catherine, a grade 9 biology teacher, who reforms her teaching practices in response to a national curriculum reform in Quebec, Canada. Unlike some cases in response to reform, this case is hopeful and positive. Also in this paper, I…

This paper examines literacy under-achievement and the limitations of gender-based literacy reforms grounded in essentialist notions of masculinity. It draws on qualitative case-study research conducted in one Ontario secondary school in a working-class community. It focuses on two grade 9 students and their teacher who participated in a larger…

This article examines the complex task of designing a large-scale assessment to align with a reform-oriented view of mathematics teaching and learning. Specifically, we address this issue through the case of the province of Ontario that has a reform-oriented curriculum and support for its implementation. The province also has a mandate to assess…

This submission contains the Proceedings of the 2013 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG), held at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario. The CMESG is a group of mathematicians and mathematics educators who meet annually to discuss mathematics education issues at all levels of learning. The aims of the…

To examine the mathematics classroom experiences of students considered to be "at-risk," we conducted case studies of four students in grades 7, 8, and 9 in North-western Ontario. The case studies revealed that their mathematics classes offered few opportunities for active, engaging learning or activities that students experienced as…

Curriculum reform in Ontario secondary schools proposed that the assessment of student achievement be separated into academic achievement and non-academic achievement or the behaviours that can influence academic achievement. The purpose of this study was to explore teachers' assessment practices of non-academic achievement in Ontario' s grade 9…

Ontario's Transition Years initiatives, designed to change schooling structures and processes and ease early adolescents' transition to high school, seem to place teachers in equally trying and traumatic transitions in their work and careers. Program components challenge teachers' sense of competence and effectiveness and threaten to consume…

Four grade-9 mathematics teachers in Canada were studied over one year as they implemented destreaming (detracking), which was an externally induced reform in their school system. Implementation of the destreaming had an immediate negative effect on teacher expectations of their own efficacy, but their beliefs rebounded over the year. (SLD)

Presents a case study of grade 9 curriculum reforms at a urban high school in Ontario (Canada). Explains that students were streamed according to their abilities and interests before the reform. Discusses questions related to de-streaming, especially how teachers contend with mixed-ability classes, and integration with a particular focus on…

This document contains the second volume of the proceedings of the 29th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. Conference papers are centered around the theme of "Learners and Learning Environments." This volume features 43 research reports by presenters with last names beginning between Adl…