This paper contains an analysis of some early thinking of 94 young children aged 5 years 7 months to 6 years 5 months. These children were interviewed as part of a larger study of the multiplicative thinking of children who were midway through their first year of school in Australia. They had not been formally taught multiplication or division at…

This paper aims to understand how primary students use gestures to solve partition tasks and to what extent these gestures may promote fraction understanding. Analysis of six selected students' answers to partitioning tasks, classroom observation, and post-lesson interviews indicates that co-thought representational gestures play a critical role.…

This paper analyses learners' common errors in simplifying algebraic problems. 102 Grade 10 learners from three rural schools in South Africa participated in the study. Following a quantitative approach, content analysis of learners' responses to algebraic tests revealed that while learners commit several errors in algebraic problems, encoding and…

Mathematical problem-solving places heavy demands on children's developing working memory capacity. This review examines how offloading numerical information using embodied (e.g. finger counting) or external tools (e.g. manipulatives) can reduce cognitive load and improve mathematical task performance. Strategic offloading emerges in childhood;…

Research suggests that collaborative learning may enhance the benefits to learners when solving cognitively demanding tasks. However, there are concerns about how students with different achievement and engagement levels perceive these benefits. This study examines how students with varying achievement and engagement levels respond to…

In this paper, we raise questions about the role of student empathy and compassion when engaging with social and environmental justice issues -- significant in a world where challenges associated with such disruptions are faced daily. We draw on data from a larger, nationally funded study on enabling students' critical mathematical thinking. These…

Mathematical problem-posing (MPP) offers an alternative to teacher-directed approaches by encouraging students to create and solve their own problems. While MPP is supported by the Australian Curriculum and empirical research has increased over the last decade, implementation in classrooms is still limited. Using The Theory of Practice…