In this article, the authors emphasise the importance of purposeful mathematical discussion and using sequences of connected, cumulative, and challenging tasks in advancing students' spatial reasoning in the early years of schooling.

Given what is known about the importance of productive struggle for supporting student learning of mathematics at all levels, the current study sought to examine teacher attitudes towards student struggle when students learn mathematics in remote learning settings compared with classroom settings. Eighty-two Australian early years primary teachers…

Productive struggle leads to productive classrooms where students work on complex problems, are encouraged to take risks, can struggle and fail yet still feel good about working on hard problems (Boaler, 2016). Teachers can foster a classroom culture that values and promotes productive struggle by providing students with challenging tasks. These…

This article reports the findings of classroom research exploring the potential of posing challenging mathematical problems situated in real-world financial contexts to activate mathematical knowledge, skills and reasoning. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012…

As part of a project exploring the use of challenging mathematical tasks, data from New Zealand teachers and their students were analysed to explore teachers' actions that encouraged students to persist. Rather than rescuing the students when they needed help, the teachers' actions included arranging for and encouraging students to work…

Highly capable mathematics students are not usually considered strugglers. This paper reports on a case study of a Year 6 student, Debbie, her response to a lesson, and her learning involving a challenging mathematical task. Debbie, usually a highly capable student, struggled to complete a challenging mathematical task by herself, but as the…

This paper examines the learning by students who were participating in a project designed to promote persistence while working on mathematical tasks. We examined their learning of mathematics concepts and learning about the processes of engaging in mathematical tasks. There were substantial increases in students' knowledge of angles and also…

While there is widespread agreement on the importance of incorporating problem solving and reasoning into mathematics classrooms, there is limited specific advice on how this can best happen. This is a report of an aspect of a project that is examining the opportunities and constraints in initiating learning by posing challenging mathematics tasks…

The Encouraging Persistence Maintaining Challenge (EMPC) Project has been working with secondary teachers in Melbourne as they seek to build persistence in students, during work on challenging mathematics tasks. The authors have developed sequences of tasks in various topic areas for Years 7 and 8, which require students to connect different…

The following is a report of an exploration of what mathematical reasoning might look like in classrooms. Focusing on just one lesson in one classroom, data are presented that indicate that upper primary students are willing and able to reason for themselves, especially in classrooms in which the culture for such reasoning has been established. It…

The Task Types and Mathematics Learning project is investigating the opportunities and constraints that teachers experience when using particular types of mathematics tasks. Some assumptions underlying this aspect of the project are: (1) that teachers seeking a balanced curriculum choose to use a mix of types of tasks; (2) open-ended questions…

Examined the quality of responses of six classes of grade six students to four questions requiring multiple and generalized solutions posed under varying conditions. Results indicated that this type of question can be useful in classrooms because students can respond at a variety of levels. (13 references) (MDH)