Subject cultures and pedagogy : comparing mathematics and science

This research found that a teacher is both a member of a culture and an individual, building practice within parameters set by a dynamic and multifaceted subject culture. Feelings of competence and confidence grow as an aesthetic understanding of what it means to know, teach, and appreciate a subject.

Computers for secondary mathematics: who uses them and how?

In the first stage of a three year ARC-funded study in which the effects of using computers for the teaching and learning of mathematics are being explored, a questionnaire has been developed and is being administered to a large number of students in grades 7-10 in a representative sample of co-educational post-primary schools in Victoria. Using open and closed response formats, the information sought includes: background and biographical details; data on computer ownership and use =96 frequency and mode/s =96 for mathematics learning at home and in mathematics classes; and beliefs about mathematics and the use of computers for learning mathematics. In this paper, the focus will be on some of the preliminary findings related to ownership and use of computers for learning mathematics at home and at school. In previous research, factors such as gender, socio-economic background, and ethnicity have been identified as contributors to inequitable mathematics learning outcomes. The questionnaire data will be analysed to examine if these and other factors are related to any inequities identified in student's access to computers and in how they use computers in their learning of mathematics. The results will be presented and pertinent implications discussed.

Opening up pathways : engagement in STEM across the primary-secondary school transition

A review of the literature concerning supports and barriers to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics engagement at Primary-Secondary transition. Commissioned by the Australian Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.

A curriculum innovation framework for science, technology and mathematics education

There is growing concern about falling levels of student engagement with school science, as evidenced by studies of student attitudes, and decreasing participation at the post compulsory level. One major response to this, the Australian School Innovation in Science, Technology and Mathematics (ASISTM) initiative, involves partnerships between schools and community and industry organisations in developing curriculum projects at the local level. This project fulfils many of the conditions advocated to engage students in learning in the sciences. ASISTM is underpinned by the notion of innovation. This paper describes the findings of case study research in which 16 ASISTM projects were selected as innovation exemplars. A definition of innovation and an innovation framework were developed, through which the case studies were analysed to make sense of the significance of the ideas and practices, participating actors, and outcomes of the projects. Through this analysis we argue that innovation is a powerful idea for framing curriculum development in the sciences at the local level that is generative for students and teachers, and that these ASISTM projects provide valuable models for engaging students, and for teacher professional learning.

Students' and teachers' use of ICT in primary mathematics

This paper reports on the findings of a research project that investigated the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Primary mathematics in an urban and rural network. Surveys and semi structured interviews were held to obtain insight into teachers’ and students’ perceptions and attitudes towards the usage of ICT in the teaching and learning of mathematics. The presentation will highlight the findings and include a discussion on the types of ICT that students use in and out of school to learn mathematics.

Is proof dead in the computer-age school curriculum?

The article questions the status of proof in mathematics. The article mentions that proof has always been the driving force in historical developments in mathematics. It mentions that proof has been for centuries the staple of mathematics and is used to prepare students for higher mathematical studies and to help them learn to handle the demands of daily life. It cites that changes in school curriculum in the last decades of the twentieth century has rendered proof-free mathematics.

Entry-level college mathematics success predictors : developmental performance, 'stopping-out' and demographics

Institutionally collected data identifying student demographics, course performance in both the precollege mathematics course and the college-level mathematics course, and 'stopping-out' time between the pre-college course and the college-level course were used to create a predictive model of academic success for 'high risk' college-level mathematics students. The two most significant factors were the pre-college mathematics course grade and the student's over-all college GPA.

How different is it really? – rural and urban primary students’ use of ICT in mathematics

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) offers the potential for changing mathematics education for both teachers and students. However, how ICT is used, and by whom, is critical to realizing this potential. This paper reports on an investigation of the use of ICT in the learning and teaching of mathematics in rural and urban primary schools in Victoria, Australia. Thirty-six teachers and almost 700 students were surveyed regarding their use of ICT for mathematics at home and at school, with a small number of selected teachers and students taking part in interviews. This paper focuses on students’ perceptions of ICT use. A comparison of rural and urban students’ responses shows little difference across most aspects of ICT use, and where there was a difference, the frequency of rural use almost always exceeded that in urban schools.

Understanding and developing structure - its importance for mathematics learning

This issue comes at a time when mathematics education research is becoming more intently focused on the development of "structure" as salient to generalised mathematics learning. Not surprisingly the attention on structure creates particular synergies with the increasingly rich field of research on algebraic thinking and arithmetic processes, particularly in the early years. In many ways, this special issue is concerned with describing the process of "structuring" that enables abstraction and generalisation. A recent MERJ special issue, Abstraction in Mathematics Education (Mitchelmore & White, 2007), illustrated theories of abstraction aligning these to notions of underlying structure. The importance of structure in the transition from school to university was also highlighted by Godfrey and Thomas (2008), and Novotna and Hoch (2008) in the previous special issue of MERJ (Thomas, 2008). In this special issue we present six papers that provide evidence of developing structure as critical for all learners of mathematics throughout schooling.

Teaching out-of-field : factors shaping identities of secondary science and mathematics

It is widely recognised that many teachers work 'out of field', taking subjects outside their specialities. Studies undertaken by the author and by other researchers shed light on how teachers themselves experience and understand out-of-field teaching. The article discusses the issue in relation to junior secondary science and mathematics. Evidence is drawn from the 2009 Teacher Identity In and Across Subjects (TIIAS) study. The article also includes a table summarising the findings of eight major research reports relevant to this issue. The author draws a range of conclusions. Teachers' experience and understanding of out-of-field teaching is determined not only by their subject content knowledge and their pedagogical content knowledge, but also by their context and by the personal resources available to them. Rural teachers often accept the need to teach across a number of subject areas, as part of their professional identity, despite the fact that they often lack easy access to subject specialists. Teachers tend to be more positive about out-of-field teaching when they themselves have had input into which subjects they will teach, and when they have an interest in or informal knowledge of the subject area. Teachers' interest in professional development to support their out-of-field teaching is influenced by whether they see themselves as simply filling in for someone, making the most of an opportunity, or pursuing an interest. Professional learning should ideally be initiated by or negotiated with the teachers, and should be provided at the point of need. School leaderships should maximise teachers' input into subject allocation and provision of professional learning opportunities. Teacher education courses need to prepare pre-service teachers to cope with out-of-field teaching.

Starting out in STEM : a study of young men and women in first year science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses

In late 2011, first year university students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses across Australia were invited to participate in the international Interests and Recruitment in Science (IRIS) study. IRIS investigates the influences on young people's decisions to choose university STEM courses and their subsequent experiences of these courses. The study also has a particular focus on the motivations and experiences of young women in courses such as physics, IT and engineering given the low rates of female participation in these fields. Around 3500 students from 30 Australian universities contributed their views on the relative importance of various school and non-school influences on their decisions, as well as insights into their experiences of university STEM courses so far. It is hoped that their contributions will help improve recruitment, retention and gender equity in STEM higher education and careers.

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.

Factors influencing mathematics and science teachers' self-assessment as teaching 'out-of-field' in rural and regional schools

Teaching 'out-of-field' occurs when teachers teach a subject for which they have no disciplinary or methods qualification. The incidence of out-of-field mathematics, science and technology teaching are particularly high in rural and regional areas. Given that mathematics and science are key areas of policy concern, there is an urgent need to understand teachers‟ position in this increasingly common practice in order to provide appropriate system responses. This paper asks the question, how are mathematics and science teachers‟ professional identities influenced by having to teach out-of-field? Twenty teachers who had taught science or mathematics at some time in their career, two school leaders, and two support staff, took part in semi-structured interviews, which I then transcribed. This paper reports on a thematic analysis of a subset of the data that isolated factors influencing teachers‟ self-assessment of themselves as out-of-field or in-field. Excerpts from the interviews are used to introduce and contextualise these factors within rural and regional settings. These factors are used to generate a theoretical model, the Boundary Between Fields (BBF) Model, that enables analysis of the impact of these factors on identity construction during a boundary crossing event. The Model highlights the influence of support mechanisms, contextual factors and personal resources on the nature of teachers‟ negotiation of subject boundaries and its impact on professional identity. This innovative model provides a platform for re-conceptualising these experiences as opportunities for professional learning occurring within schools as communities of practice, where teachers are supported and enabled to expand their professional identity. These findings provide insight for policy-makers, school leaders and teacher educators, into the complexity of the issue for teachers, as well as the conditions required for such teaching to be considered learning opportunities.

Interdisciplinary literacy through social media in the mathematics classroom: an action research study

This article looks at how social and participatory media can be used to strengthen interdisciplinary literacy and connects the multimodality of social environments with Middle-Years Mathematics curriculum and delivery. The article reports on part of an eighteen months action research study in an Australian public high school within the author's two Year 8 Mathematics classes. The article provides student samples from within these classes as it contributes evidence and analyses that may help to inform teachers from across subject areas to recognise and implement literacy practices, not as an isolated classroom activity, but across their disciplines. By taking a more ‘social’ approach to designing projects for Middle-Years Mathematics, this study supports concepts of literacy as a social, cognitive and cultural practice.