A strong foundation in early number concepts is critical for students' future success in mathematics. Research suggests that visual representations, like a number line, support students' development of number sense by helping them create a mental representation of the order and magnitude of numbers. In addition, explicitly sequencing instruction…

The 43rd meeting of Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG) was held at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia (May 31-June 4, 2019). This meeting marked only the third time CMESG/GCEDM (Groupe Canadien d'Étude en Didactique des Mathématiques) had been held in Nova Scotia (1996, 2003), and the first time it had been…

Fluency with basic number facts is vital for students' progress in mathematics. Not only does it contribute to students' facility with mental computation and algorithms, but an understanding of numbers and their properties builds a foundation for future mathematical work including algebra. There are many activities that can help students…

As part of individual interviews incorporating whole number and rational number tasks, 323 grade 6 children in Victoria, Australia were asked to nominate the larger of two fractions for eight pairs, giving reasons for their choice. All tasks were expected to be undertaken mentally. The relative difficulty of the pairs was found to be close to that…

This basic math skills teaching and learning guide contains practical advice and resources for British vocational teachers who have little formal mathematics education training and for beginning teachers. The document has five sections on these topics dealing with numeracy instruction: (1) overview of the basic skill and its application to other…