Ann Gervasoni

... In 2000, twenty schools taking part in the Early Numeracy Research Project [ENRP] (Clarke,Gervasoni & Sullivan, 2000) introduced a mathematics intervention program, Extending Mathematical Understanding (Gervasoni, 2002), for the Grade 1 and/or Grade 2 children who ...

Ann Gervasoni. Australian Catholic University. Australia. This paper explores the issues and challenges of catering for the range of mathematical abilities in Australian Primary Classrooms. ... ENRP Final Report. Melbourne: ACU. Cobb, P., & McClain, K. (1999). ...

The Let’s Count pilot early mathematics program was implemented in five early childhood educational contexts across Australia during 2011. The program used specifically formulated materials and workshops to enlist the assistance of early childhood educators to work with parents and other family members of children in their settings to help develop these children’s awareness, confidence and skills in early mathematics. The pilot program was evaluated by the authors of this paper using a multi-methods approach. The evaluation was focused on the success of the Let’s Count program in bringing early childhood educators, parents and other family members together, to enhance children’s mathematical engagement, learning outcomes and dispositions

The symposium provides an overview of the Early Years STEM Australia (ELSA) program. The conceptual underpinnings of the program are framed within STEM practices, rather than traditional thinking concerning the integration of discipline content knowledge. We will argue that our focus on practices is more aligned with the play-based and intentional teaching objectives of the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF). The symposium describes the approach we have undertaken, the extent to which some of the practices align well to mathematics thinking, and the pedagogical framework used to stimulate play and create activities for the six learning apps that form part of the program.

A critical issue for all involved in primary and secondary mathematics education is how to ensure that all students learn mathematics successfully so that at the end of schooling they have the mathematical knowledge, skills, and confidence necessary to fully participate in further learning, employment, community life, and citizenship. This issue focuses attention on pedagogy which is the method or process of teaching, and generally refers to instructional strategies or actions (Ball & Bass, 2000). This chapter provides an overview of Australasian studies that have explored successful pedagogy within the context of mathematics education over the past four years (2008 to 2011). Our purpose is to highlight new insights that contribute to knowledge about what constitutes successful mathematics pedagogy for all students, to note any issues or tensions emerging from the findings, to identify any silences in the research agenda, and to recommend areas for future research.

1 Mathematics and Transition to School: Theoretical Frameworks and Practical Implications Bob Perry, Amy MacDonald, and Ann Gervasoni Part I The Mathematics Young Children Bring to the First Year of School 2 Swimming Upstream in a Torrent of Assessment Anita M. Wager, M. Elizabeth Graue, and Kelly Harrigan 3 Assessing Young Children's Mathematical Understanding: Opportunities and Expectations at the Transition to School Barbara Clarke 4 Children's Mathematical Knowledge Prior to Starting School and Implications for Transition Ann Gervasoni and Bob Perry 5 Transition to School: Prior to School Mathematical Skills and Knowledge of Low-Achieving Children at the End of Grade 1 Andrea Peter-Koop and Sebastian Kollhoff 6 Let's Count: Early Childhood Educators and Families Working in Partnership to Support Young Children's Transitions in Mathematics Education Amy MacDonald 7 The Role of the Home Environment in Children's Early Numeracy Development: A Canadian Perspective Sheri-Lynn Skwarchuk and Jo-Anne LeFevre 8 Mathematics Teachers Responding to Children's Resources to Create Learning for All Jonina Vala Kristinsdottir and Hafdis Gudjonsdottir Part II Continuity of Mathematics Curriculum and/or Pedagogy as Children Begin School 9 The Relationship Between Policy and Practice in the Early Mathematics Curriculum for Reception-Class Children in England Carol Aubrey and D nd Durmaz 10 Scaling Up Early Mathematics Interventions: Transitioning with Trajectories and Technologies Julie Sarama and Douglas H. Clements 11 Partnerships that Support Children's Mathematics During the Transition to School: Perceptions, Barriers and Opportunities Wendy Goff and Sue Dockett 12 The Culture of the Mathematics Classroom During the First School Years in Finland and Sweden Kirsti Hemmi and Andreas Ryve 13 A New Zealand Perspective: Mathematical Progressions from Early Childhood to School through a Child Centred Curriculum? Shiree Lee and Gregor Lomas 14 The Impact of a Patterns and Early Algebra Program on Children's Learning in Transition to School in Australian Indigenous Communities Marina M. Papic, Joanne T. Mulligan, Kate Highfield, Judith McKay-Tempest, and Deborah Garrett 15 Preschool Mathematics Learning and School Transition in Hong Kong Sharon Sui Ngan Ng and Jin Sun Part III Informal and Formal Mathematics and the Transition to School 16 Early Mathematics in Play Situations: Continuity of Learning Hedwig Gasteiger 17 Mathematical Conversations that Challenge Children's Thinking Jill Cheeseman 18 Transition to School: Supporting Children's Engagement in Mathematical Thinking Processes Liz Dunphy 19 Listening to Children's Mathematics in School Elizabeth Carruthers

Method We,(Ann and Robyn, teacher-educator researchers) completed a professional learning project with six primary teachers during 2008 and while doing so, conducted a self-study of our learning and teaching. We engaged in weekly conversations; maintained journals (using critical incidents, interactions and events as our stimulus for writing and analysis); conducted interviews with teachers and a

Relinquishing algorithms in favour of less-conventional approaches for calculating is a challenge for both students and teachers. Analysis of a Roundtable Reflection session with Grade 3 and Grade 4 teachers reveals that tensions for teachers arise: when students automatically choose to use algorithms rather than alternative approaches; when they contemplate their class's transition to the next teacher; and when teachers think about parenticommunityicurriculum expectations concerning calculation processes. It is ...

were identified as vulnerable in aspects of number learning. This paper explores the domains and combinations of domains in which these children were vulnerable. The findings highlight the diversity of the instructional needs of this group and the challenge teachers face in meeting their diverse needs. The Australian Commonwealth Government developed a National Literacy and Numeracy Plan (Department of Education Training and Youth Affairs, 2000) to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes for Australian students. The National Plan recognises that “there is a need to provide effective assistance to students who need extra support, as part of ensuring that all students gain a level of numeracy essential for successful participation in schooling, in work, and in everyday life (p. 6). ” As a result, the National Plan calls for the assessment of all children by their teachers early in schooling, and the “provision of intervention for those students identified as being at risk of not making...

A part of the Victorian Early Numeracy Research Project (ENRP), 21 ‘trial’ schools implemented the Extending Mathematical Understanding (EMU) Program for students in the first three years of school who were low attaining in mathematics. This paper reports on the effect of the EMU program for students in their second and third years of school with respect to the Addition and Subtraction domain. Results suggest that Grade 2 children who participate in a small group specialised assistance program make more progress than children who participate in an individual program, and that the program is more effective for Grade 2 students than for Grade 1 students. One effect of the general community and government disquiet about the number of students who have not reached an acceptable level of literacy and numeracy by the end of compulsory schooling, has been to focus attention on improving learning and teaching in the early years of schooling. It is anticipated that students who begin school ...

Six reasons as to why problem solving enhances the development of numeracy and mathematical thinking is presented. The greatest value of problem solving is that problems have no immediate obvious solution, which can quite significantly change the nature and power of the mathematical thinking in which children engage at school.

Five interpretive place value tasks were added to the Early Numeracy Interview (ENI) to gain further insight about students’ construction of conceptual knowledge associated with 2-digit and 3-digit numbers. The researchers hypothesised that even though some students were successful at reading, writing and ordering numbers, interpreting multi-digit numbers for problem solving remained a struggle for them. Analyses of students’ responses showed that the new tasks distinguished students who previously were assessed as understanding 2digit or 3-digit numbers, but who could not identify 50 or 150 on a number line or state the total of collections reduced or increased by ten. The new tasks assist teachers to identify students who need further instruction to fully understand 2-digit and 3-digit numbers.

Let’s Count is an early mathematics program that has been designed by The Smith Family and the authors to assist educators in early childhood contexts in socially disadvantaged areas of Australia to work in partnership with parents and other family members to promote positive mathematical experiences for young children (3-5 years). A longitudinal evaluation of Let’s Count was undertaken in 2012-2014 involving 337 children in two treatment groups and 125 children in a comparison group. This paper shares preliminary results from the evaluation. Overall the findings demonstrate that Let’s Count was effective.

This paper provides insight about the development of addition and subtraction strategies for nearly 22,000 Australian primary school children in 2016. The children were each assessed by their teacher using a task-based assessment interview that identified the strategies they used to mentally perform addition and subtraction, and matched these to a growth point framework. The findings highlight the broad distribution of strategies used by children in each grade level and suggest that few children, including those in Grade 6, reach Growth Point 6 that involves the mental calculation of two-digit and three-digit numbers. These findings have important implications for classroom teaching and professional learning.

Thirty primary classroom teachers quantified perceived changes in their practice and knowledge attributed to their school leaders’ participation in a six-day course focused on leaders designing and implementing a whole-school reform of mathematics teaching and learning, and the school-based professional learning that followed. The project and framework underpinning the reform are outlined, and the teachers’ reported changes in pedagogical practices are described. Teachers identified many changes in pedagogy and growth in knowledge. Not surprisingly, changes in pedagogical practices were even greater for specialist mathematics teachers who had also participated in a separate six-day course.

This paper explores how a secondary school in western Sydney used educational research as an impetus to change its mathematical education culture over a three year period. Key changes occurred in four areas: leadership; pedagogy; structures for teaching and learning; and mathematical environments. These included increased professional conversations, adoption of a numeracy lesson structure, regular use of manipulatives and open ended tasks and a structured intervention program for mathematically vulnerable students. Critical to the development of these changes were partnerships with a university academic and the CEDP system leadership team as well as school leadership participation in professional learning.

This chapter draws on findings from the longitudinal evaluation of the Australian initiative Let’s Count (Perry and Gervasoni 2012) to consider how the process of bringing families and pre-school educators together, with a focus on mathematics, enhanced young children’s mathematics learning. The data examined is parent and educator interview data that explores the effectiveness of the Let’s Count approach. The findings, sustained over two separate data collection periods over 2 years, provide clear evidence that Let’s Count is at least as successful as other mathematics learning programs in terms of children’s mathematical knowledge and skills outcomes, and suggest in respect to some mathematical concepts that Let’s Count may be a superior approach. Themes emerging from interviews with parents highlight that the parents valued the educators talking to them about ideas and suggestions regarding the type of activities that are rich sources of mathematics learning. It many ways these d...

As part of the Bridging the Numeracy Gap Project, four Catholic schools in the Kimberley appointed Key Aboriginal Teaching Assistants in Numeracy who, along with a classroom teacher from the school, participated in a 6-day professional learning program aimed at developing their mathematics teaching and leadership. At the end of 2010, audio-taped conversations took place to gain insight about the impact of the Project on learning and teaching mathematics at the school. Analysis of these data demonstrated that Aboriginal Teaching Assistants had clear views about the positive impact of project and of how to improve Aboriginal students‟ opportunities to learn mathematics at school.

This paper compares the counting and whole number knowledge and skills of primary school children in Australia and Germany at the end of Grade 1 and Grade 2. Children’s learning was assessed using the Early Numeracy Interview and associated Growth Point Framework. The findings highlight substantial differences between the two groups that vary for the four whole number content domains that have been investigated. These variations are likely due to different curriculum emphases in the two countries.

The Extending Mathematical Understanding (EMU) Program is a specialised mathematics program that aims to accelerate the learning of Grade 1 students who struggle with learning school mathematics. Forty-two students participated in an EMU Program in 2010 as part of the Bridging the Numeracy Gap (BTNG) project. Analysis of students’ mathematics knowledge at the beginning of the EMU Program highlighted how diverse was this group of students. The students’ mathematics knowledge was assessed again at the beginning of the following year in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the program for accelerating learning. Overall the students made very good progress and their learning was maintained.