B. Kissane

Teachers' Journeys towards Critical Use of ICT.

Teachers have a central role in developing new learning models in schools. This paper describes a study that explored teachers’ confidence and competence in using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as they participated in an ICT development project conducted by an Australian education system in 12 primary schools. The project aimed to develop ICT integrated teaching practices by providing in‐class equipment and teacher professional development in ICT use, curriculum development and teaching strategies. The study used qualitative data from teacher records of Professional Development and Action Learning to identify three of four stages proposed to describe teachers’ ICT learning. Teachers moved from gaining basic ICT skills, to conducting ICT‐focused lessons and eventually appropriate ICT integration. Teachers who progressed to the third stage were able to exploit additional learning opportunities and begin to make fundamental changes to their pedagogy, but needed more time to reach the final stage of challenging existing pedagogical structures.

SELECTION OF MATHEMATICALLY TALENTED STUDENTS

This paper reports a study concerned with the selection of mathematically talented students at the beginning of secondary school in Australia using a version of the College Boards Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). Some young students achieved scores comparable with older mathematically able students and with college-bound students in USA. Teacher nomination of students as talented resulted in the selection of considerably different groups of students to those selected using the SAT. Marked sex differences, in favour of boys, are noted and discussed. Three different procedures for comparing item responses of younger and older groups are employed, leading to the conclusion that younger and older students respond to SAT items in qualitatively different ways. Comparison procedures based on the Rasch model for measurement are favoured.

Designing and Implementing Scientific Calculator Tasks and Activities

Although officially approved for use in the Singapore secondary curriculum, including examinations, scientific calculators are still often misunderstood as devices solely for arithmetic computation and even at times regarded as unhelpful for students learning mathematics. Yet the development of calculators in recent decades has been focused on their use as educational devices, and the design of calculators has been heavily influenced by the needs of secondary school students. In this paper, we first consider the educational potential of calculators in education, drawing on a model developed for this purpose. We then focus on the educational design of tasks and activities using calculators for various educational purposes, including the development of mathematical concepts and important processes such as reasoning and modelling. Attention focuses on the design of experiences that incorporate modern calculator capabilities and their affordances for important learning goals, as well as the implementation of these in classrooms. Examples and analysis of some appropriate tasks are provided.