Meaningful mathematics in the middle years

This paper describes an action research project that investigated issues concerning the teaching and learning of numeracy in the middle years. Building on research concerning the middle years of schooling, and their own experience of teaching mathematics in years 5 - 8, a group of teachers, drawn from four schools, trialed strategies intended to improve the engagement, attitudes and outcomes of their students in mathematics. The group recommended at the end of the study that mathematics needs to be meaningful for young adolescents. The concept of meaningful mathematics is explored through a description of the actions and findings of the teachers participating in this project.

Student views of computer based-mathematics in the middle years : does gender make a difference?

How the use of computers in mathematics classrooms was viewed by students in two middle years mathematics classrooms was the focus of the research described in this paper. The primary data sources consisted of questionnaires, classroom observations supported by videotaping of mathematics lessons, and interviews with two girls and two boys from each class. Thus both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. Girls viewed the computer-based lessons less favourably than did boys. In general, the boys were likely to believe that computers contributed to their experiencing pleasure in these lessons, and to making mathematics more relevant to them. Girls were typically more concerned about whether computers facilitated learning and enabled success in mathematics. The attitudes of students to computer-based mathematics were related to their views of computers.

Improving middle years mathematics and science

The overall aim of the Improving Middle Years Mathematics and Science (IMYMS) project was to explore the explore the nature and significance of subject cultures in framing teacher and school practice in mathematics and science and to develop a middle years school improvement model that takes account of these subject cultures in influencing school and teacher change. The project also investigated ways in which effective pedagogies in mathematics and science can be monitored; and ways in which higher order learning outcomes in mathematics and science can be reliably assessed.

The project has worked with more than 30 schools in four clusters to support them in planning for and implementing change. A framework describing effective mathematics and science pedagogies was developed, and used as the basis for auditing procedures that track classroom practice. Instruments were developed and used to probe: teacher classroom practice; student perceptions of classroom practice and learning preferences; knowledge outcomes; reasoning in science and mathematics; understanding of the nature of science and mathematics; and performance skills in mathematics and science investigations. Data sources have also included questionnaire data, interviews, school reports and field notes. Video data was also collected and used for stimulated recall interviews concerning teacher beliefs and practices.

In order to support teachers and schools to improve their practice, the project team worked with cluster educators in each of the clusters, and with school coordinators, through a number of network meetings including an initial ‘leading change’ workshop, through cluster visits, and the provision of auditing and planning instruments supported by data analysis support. The nature of the subject cultures of, and effective pedagogies in, mathematics and science, was explored using interview data with effective teachers, literature exploration, interviews with project teachers to map characteristics of their practice, the team’s experience of the construction and analysis of achievement tests, a video and interview study of teachers of mathematics and science, and student perceptions data.

Connecting literacy learning outside of school to the Australian Curriculum in the middle years

The complexity of teacher’s work is manifest in the divergent use of digital technologies in and out of school. This paper explores the logical step of connecting students’ out-of-school mediated literacy learning to the content descriptors of the Australian Curriculum. The study uses published evidence from four previous studies of young people to demonstrate the diverse ways that out-of-school practices can be linked to literacy learning in the Australian Curriculum. We frame this linking of informal literacy learning to the Australian Curriculum by highlighting the ‘funds of knowledge’ children bring through the school gate. 

Schools and the city: Engaging middle years students in learning

Socioeconomic disadvantage continues to be a strong determinant of the educational outcomes of young Australians. In particular, middle years students from low socioeconomic backgrounds are persistently at risk of disengagement and early leaving. This risk can be ameliorated by engaging, student-centred learning that is connected to students' lives. This article considers the findings of an independent review of Education Foundation's Cityscape program, recently reframed as the Classroom to Community program. It provides insights into the learning experiences that foster middle years engagement in low socioeconomic contexts as well as the challenges inherent in reframing teacher practice along more student-centred lines.

Is there a need for cyberethics in the middle school curriculum

This research in progress is a qualitative and quantitative case study that is exploring the need for the integration of cyberethics into the curriculum for the middle school years 6 through 8. The broader research question in the study investigates: ‘Is there a problem with how school students in the middle years use the Internet in and out of school?’ The study has been exploring the level of understanding the group of students have of ethical behaviour on the Internet. This research helps identify areas where an understanding of cyberethics will increase students’ current and future understanding in the use of the Internet and their interaction with other aspects of the Internet and its environment. If a student encounters unsafe behaviour on the Internet, the student will be able to behave and act appropriately. The research is also investigating teachers and parents perceptions of the evidence of problems associated with their students/children’s access to the Internet.

This area was chosen for research because of the significant impact computers have had in education in the last decade. Since the advent of personal computers and networking the Education Departments in many developed nations have taken the opportunity to promote the technology’s educational benefits. There have been several studies on the educational value of computers in schools and the research thus far describes some of the ethical changes that have emerged as a result of the technology as well as the benefits and shortcomings of the use of this technology within the Australian environment as compared to its usage in other Western nations, namely the U.S. and U.K.

Identifying the problems in the use of the Internet by middle school students is a part of this investigation and it will make recommendations with regard to the integration of cyberethics into the middle school curriculum. This approach will help prompt students, teachers and parents to re-examine their decision framework with regard to Internet usage and hence move them to reflect and consider the use of the technology ethically. Further the research is examining students’, parents’ and teachers’ need for the introduction of cyberethics into the curriculum. The case study is drawing data from individual surveys of parents, teachers and students. The questionnaires consist of relevant scenarios so that it may identify the general understanding and use of the Internet by students, teachers and parents.

During the study, any modification to the curriculum for the integration of cyberethics is to be identified and these findings should be of interest to the wider educational community in Australia and New Zealand. The questions raised in this research may affect teacher education and help demonstrate the importance of the parents’ role in their children’s Internet usage. The research will cover current issues of cyberethics and its effects on middle school students.

Student researchers in the middle : using visual images to make sense of inclusive education

Using ‘visual narrative’ theoretically and practically, this paper explores issues of inclusive education, during a period of curriculum reform and renewal in Australia. In Australia, the middle years of schooling, Years 5 to 9, are well researched and known as a period when students disengage with learning and participation in schooling. Research in the middle years affirms the importance of engaging with ‘student voice’. In this special edition, we are aiming to highlight how the use of visual imagery can be a rich source of understanding, illustrating students’ self-knowledge of schooling. Methodologically we refer to our research approach as ‘visual narrative’. Other writers in this edition use the term ‘photo voice’. For researchers it is important to highlight the differing orientations that ‘visual narrative’ and ‘photo voice’ signify. The terms are not mutually exclusive but highlight differing research possibilities and emphasis. Our argument, through the use of visual narrative produced by middle years’ students, is that visual texts open out some innovative possibilities for understanding inclusive education and supporting new relationships with our research community. Such approaches are not new; however, in a field such as special education that purports to support marginalised groups, liberatory research methods are under-represented. This paper aims to open out these discussions and provide a way forwards for teachers and researchers interested in breaking apart why it is that inclusive education remains a never-ending struggle.

Using the four resources model across the curriculum

This chapter is aimed at student teachers and practising middle-years teachers in the primary school who are interested in developing their students' subject-specific literacies in preparation for their transition to secondary school. A number of texts and activities from a popular secondary textbook are analysed and mapped against the four resources model. Given that learning tasks that develop students as code breakers, text participants, text users and
text analysts are suggested, it is important to recognise that focus does not infer separation. The activity foci rely on the take-up of each of the other resources.

Performativity, youth and injurious speech

Young people may become disengaged from schooling in the middle years for a multitude of reasons. We consider the story of one young woman from the state of New South Wales, in Australia, who left school early, and consider some of the factors that contributed to her decision to remove herself from compulsory education. This young woman encountered injurious speech relating to her race, gender, sexuality, size and ability. In undertaking this analysis, we draw on Foucaultian theorizing of the subject and on the related Butlerian notion of performativity. Performative acts that occur within and around schools have the power to injure, to alienate and to potentially exclude students from access to schooling. This article details how performative acts may operate as mechanisms of exclusion, obfuscating the social conventions and institutional structures that invest them with power. Our analysis of how performative acts function in school settings concludes with some suggestions of how teachers and students might think differently about the production of their own and others' existence.

Easier analysis and better reporting : modelling ordinal data in mathematics education research

This article presents an examination of the use of Rasch modelling in a major research project, 'Improving Middle Years Mathematics and Science' (IMYMS). It is unarguable that it is important to take students' perceptions, or views, into account when planning learning and teaching for them. The IMYMS student perceptions survey is an attempt to make visible these student viewpoints, and report them in a way that is accessible to teachers and researchers involved in the project. The project involves four clusters of schools from urban and regions of Victoria to investigate the role of mathematics and science knowledge and subject cultures in mediating change processes in the middle years of schooling. There are five secondary and twenty-eight primary schools. The project has generated both qualitative and quantitative data, with much of the qualitative data being ordinal in nature. Reporting the results of analyses for a range of audiences necessitates careful, well-designed report formats. Some useful new report formats based on Rasch modeling -the Modified Variable Map, the Ordinal Map, the Threshold Map, and the Annotated Ordinal Map - are illustrated using data from the IMYMS project. The Rasch analysis and the derived reporting formats avoid the pitfalls that exist when working with ordinal data and provide insights into the respondents' views about their experiences in schools unavailable by other approaches.

Time to make a difference: using action research to foster student engagement

This paper reports on a project, funded by the Victorian Department of Education and Training (Australia), undertaken to explore the capacity for teachers to develop innovative teaching and learning strategies aimed at improving the educational experiences of students in the middle years. Central to this charter was the need for local schools to form Clusters, share ideas and develop strategies designed to improve student engagement and connection. In forming the Buxton (pseudonym) Cluster, four schools came together to declare their shared interest in improving student connection through the teaching and learning of mathematics. The 22 teachers involved in the project shared a broad concern that the traditional pedagogies built up around the maths discipline were contributing to the wider level of student disconnection observed in the middle years. In thinking about change, the group were attracted to constructivist approaches to pedagogy in which learning opportunities and tasks are varied sufficiently to appeal to the various learning styles and aptitudes of learners. Favouring an action research framework teachers involved in the project embarked on the implementation of pedagogic reforms aimed at improving levels of student engagement.

Effective mathematics learning environments : primary teachers' beliefs and practices

A first priority for changing teaching practice is to make problematic for teachers aspects of their current practice. As part of a project on improving mathematics and science teaching in the middle years of schooling, teachers were asked to rate their practice against components of effective teaching and learning and to rate each of these according to their perceived importance. Findings suggest that primary teachers endorsed the components as representing effective practice, scoring most components higher than their actual practice. Gaps were particularly evident for items relating to challenging students conceptually and higher-order thinking, with these becoming the basis for some of the action planning for change.