University law schools have been beset with a sense of schizophrenia ever since first established in the 19th century. They were unsure as to whether they were free to teach and research in the same way as the humanities or whether they were constrained by the presuppositions of legal practice. More recently, this tension has been overshadowed by…

This paper reports results from a study exploring classroom modelling as an approach to teacher education. In particular, it presents analysis of responses on an observation proforma completed by primary school teachers to indicate what teacher actions they observed when watching modelled lessons and which of those actions they intended to…

Specific mechanisms of classroom interactions by which teachers and students conjecture, criticize, explain, test, and refine ideas and procedures is what is referred to as "negotiation of meaning in the mathematics classroom." Elaboration of the form these mechanisms take in practice, and hence investigation of classroom constructions…

This paper discusses a study that examined the establishment of a new senior high school mathematics curriculum into schools in the State of Western Australia. Two aspects of change are discussed: (1) the extent to which the reconceptualization of the pedagogical approach to teaching mathematics encouraged in the reform was taken up by teachers,…

This paper describes a professional development program for teachers. The Certificate of Teaching and Learning (CTL), developed in Australia for Kindergarten through Year 12 teachers across all subject areas. It outlines the process of conceptualization, the dilemmas faced by the development team, and the final implementation across Australia.…

In an attempt to understand the intellectual experiences of women returning to the education system to learn mathematics, data were collected from 11 women in 2 adult mathematics class in Australia who were early school leavers between the ages of 35 and 50 with between 1 and 4 children ranging in age from 2 to 17. Participants were interviewed…

An ongoing research project in Australia is focused on the concept of the transfer of competence across different working situations. It establishes a framework for learning that is student-centered and that integrates the concepts of activity theory, expansive learning, communities of practice, and multiple intelligences. Perceptions of those…

This is a record of the proceedings of the 30th annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (MERGA). The theme of the conference is "Mathematics: Essential research, essential practice." The theme draws attention to the importance of developing and maintaining links between research and practice and…