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Educational psychology usually focuses on explaining phenomena. As a result, researchers seldom explore how well their models predict the outcomes they care about using best-practice approaches to predictive statistics. In this paper, we focus less on explanation and more on prediction, showing how both are important for advancing the field. We apply predictive models to the role of teachers on student engagement, i.e. the thoughts, attitudes, and behaviours, that translate motivation into progress. We integrate the suggestions from four prominent motivational theories (self-determination theory, achievement goal theory, growth mindset theory, and transformational leadership theory), and aim to identify those most critical behaviours for predicting changes in students' engagement in physical education. Students (N = 1324 all from year 7, 52% girls) from 17 low socio-economic status schools rated their teacher's demonstration of 71 behaviours in the middle of the school year. We also assessed students' engagement at the beginning and end of the year. We trained elastic-net regression models on 70% of the data and then assessed their predictive validity on the held-out data (30%). The models showed that teacher behaviours predicted 4.39% of the variance in students' change in engagement. Some behaviours that were most consistently associated with a positive change in engagement were being good role models ([beta] = 0.046), taking interest in students' lives outside of class ([beta] = 0.033), and allowing students to make choices ([beta] = 0.029). The influential behaviours did not neatly fit within any single motivational theory. These findings support arguments for integrating different theoretical approaches, and suggest practitioners may want to consider multiple theories when designing interventions. More generally, we argue that researchers in educational psychology should more frequently test how well their models not just explain, but "predict" the outcomes they care about.

Teaching and learning partnerships in universities have the potential to enhance the interconnections and interdependencies between higher education, society and the economy for the benefit of all stakeholders. The aim of this paper was to investigate five representative Australian universities' engagement in teaching and learning partnerships identifying the prevalence, type and influences. The two data sources were each university's Mission-based Compact and their strategic plans. A total of 134 statements in the Compacts related to teaching and learning partnerships and these statements related to eight themes. These teaching and learning partnerships within a particular time period were influenced by industry-community relationships, accreditation requirements, and the broader social environment. Whilst all universities in the study acknowledge the significance of teaching and learning partnerships, it is the depth and breadth of these teaching and learning partnerships that create distinctions among the universities.

Many Australian universities have prioritised improving discipline performance on the national research assessment--Excellence for Research in Australia. However, a "culture of secrecy" pervades "Excellence in Research for Australia" (ERA). There are no specified criteria for the assignment of ratings on a 5-point scale ranging from "well above world standard" (5) to "well below world standard" (1). No rationale is provided to institutions for their discipline ratings and university staff on the ERA panels sign confidentiality agreements. However, what is available to universities are the research strategies that each university documents to improve its ERA performance in its Mission-based Compact, a government funding agreement. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the similarities and differences in the research strategies that universities with different performance profiles employ. Following an analysis of the strategies, substantial commonality was identified in strategy use. However, what was different was how universities employed these strategies and the associated contexts.

This paper reports on the novel use of classroom videos by 71 pre-service teachers enrolled in a one-year graduate diploma pre-service teacher education program across three Australian universities. The classroom videos were of an experienced teacher delivering a Year-6 mathematics lesson. Students observed, discussed and debated practices that were evident. Data were collected via observation protocols and through recorded focussed discussions. Pre-service teachers, even at the early phase of their course, were able to articulate theoretical explanations for events occurring in the lesson. All students, irrespective of the progression in the course, lamented the absence of prior opportunities to engage in analysis and discussion of classroom lessons. The study reinforces the value of dialectical interactions focussed on authentic teaching scenarios.

This study examines the learning of a diverse team of five professional developers as they led or supported a mathematics initiative. Although teachers are typically the focus of learning in professional development, we contend that the learning of professional developers is important and should not be overlooked. We examined our learning as a professional development team through first-person inquiry which drew on reflections, conversational accounts and other artefacts. These data sources were used to create a first-person narrative which was analysed for learning according to four domains of change in a model of teacher professional growth. Our findings revealed that this project was rich in opportunities for learning including: learning about mathematics pedagogy; learning about the potential for miscommunication of a message; learning about the challenges of teachers working across multiple agendas and systems trying to support these teachers; and learning about the advantages of team work. Many of these learnings were fortuitous rather than planned. Hence, we now appreciate the importance of being more conscious of the potential for learning in the conduct of professional development projects and to plan for this learning. The paper concludes with challenges for all who undertake or access professional development services in mathematics education. (Contains 4 tables and 2 figures.)

Research over a long period of time has continued to demonstrate problems in the teaching of science in school. In addition, declining levels of participation and interest in science and related fields have been reported from many particularly western countries. Among the strategies suggested is the recruitment of professional scientists and technologists either at the graduate level or advanced career level to change career and teach. In this study, we analysed how one beginning middle primary teacher engaged with students to support their science learning by establishing rich classroom discussions. We followed his evolving teaching expertise over three years focussing on his communicative practices informed by socio-cultural theory. His practices exemplified a non-interactive dialogical communicative approach where ideas were readily discussed but were concentrated on the class acquiring acceptable scientific understandings. His focus on the language of science was a significant aspect of his practice and one that emerged from his professional background. The study affirms the theoretical frameworks proposed by Mortimer and Scott (Meaning making in secondary science classrooms, 2003) highlighting how dialogue contributes to heightened student interest in science.

One method of addressing the shortage of science and mathematics teachers is to train scientists and other science-related professionals to become teachers. Advocates argue that as discipline experts these career changers can relate the subject matter knowledge to various contexts and applications in teaching. In this paper, through interviews and classroom observations with a former scientist and her students, we examine how one career changer used her expertise in microbiology to teach microscopy. These data provided the basis for a description of the teacher's instruction which was then analysed for components of domain knowledge for teaching. Consistent with the literature, the findings revealed that this career changer needed to develop her pedagogical knowledge. However, an interesting finding was that the teacher's subject matter as a science teacher differed substantively from her knowledge as a scientist. This finding challenges the assumption that subject matter is readily transferable across professions and provides insight into how to better prepare and support career changers to transition from scientist to science teacher.

Recruitment of highly qualified science and mathematics graduates has become a widespread strategy to enhance the quality of education in the field of STEM. However, attrition rates are very high suggesting preservice education programs are not preparing them well for the career change. We analyse the experiences of professionals who are scientists and have decided to change careers to become teachers. The study followed a group of professionals who undertook a 1-year preservice teacher education course and were employed by secondary schools on graduation. We examined these teachers' experiences through the lens of self-determination theory, which posits autonomy, confidence and relatedness are important in achieving job satisfaction. The findings indicated that the successful teachers were able to achieve a sense of autonomy and confidence and, in particular, had established strong relationships with colleagues. However, the unique challenges facing career-change professionals were often overlooked by administrators and colleagues. Opportunities to build a sense of relatedness in their new profession were often absent. The failure to establish supportive relationships was decisive in some teachers leaving the profession. The findings have implications for both preservice and professional in-service programs and the role that administrators play in supporting career-change teachers.

This study considers the role and nature of co-thought gestures when students process map-based mathematics tasks. These gestures are typically spontaneously produced silent gestures which do not accompany speech and are represented by small movements of the hands or arms often directed toward an artefact. The study analysed 43 students (aged 10-12 years) over a 3-year period as they solved map tasks that required spatial reasoning. The map tasks were representative of those typically found in mathematics classrooms for this age group and required route finding and coordinate knowledge. The results indicated that co-thought gestures were used to navigate the problem space and monitor movements within the spatial challenges of the respective map tasks. Gesturing was most influential when students encountered unfamiliar tasks or when they found the tasks spatially demanding. From a teaching and learning perspective, explicit co-thought gesturing highlights cognitive challenges students are experiencing since students tended to not use gesturing in tasks where the spatial demands were low.

The promotion of educational equity and improvement of educational quality in China are contextualised in tenets of Confucianism and policy directives, inspiring educational research and practice. In this paper, we first explore the historical and cultural roots of educational equity and quality through Confucianism and elaborate on the current policy priority that aims to address educational equity and quality. We then present an overview of research on equity and quality in Chinese education. Informed by Confucianism, policy, and research, we pose a framework to structure our investigation and analysis of three illustrative examples, namely the Special Post Teacher Plan, amalgamation of rural schools, and schooling of floating children. Drawing insights from Confucianism, policy, research, and practice, we conclude that the promotion of educational equity through high quality provision of education for disadvantaged groups can help to narrow the gap in educational quality currently existing in China.

The foundations of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education begins in the early years of schooling when students encounter formal learning experiences primarily in mathematics and science. Politicians, economists and industrialists recognise the importance of STEM in society, and therefore a number of strategies have been implemented to foster interest. Similarly, most students see the importance of science and mathematics in their lives, but school science and mathematics is usually seen as irrelevant, particularly by students in developed countries. This paper reports on the establishment and implementation of partnerships with industry experts from one jurisdiction which have, over a decade, attempted to reconcile the interests of youth and the contemporary world of science. Four case studies are presented and qualitative findings analyzed in terms of program outcomes and student engagement. The key finding is that the formation of relationships and partnerships, in which students have high degree of autonomy and sense of responsibility, is paramount to positive dispositions towards STEM. Those features of successful partnerships are also discussed. The findings raise some hope that innovative schools and partnerships can foster innovation and connect youth with the real world. (Contains 2 figures.)

This article explores the role a writing group played in influencing the scholarly identities of a group of doctoral students by fostering their writing expertise. While the interest in writing groups usually centres on their potential to support doctoral students to publish, few studies have been conducted and written by the students themselves. Using a situated learning perspective on identity, we explore the connection that emerged between our perceptions of ourselves as developing expertise as scholarly writers and the function of the writing group as a dynamic space for transforming our identities. Findings show that our writing group served as a flexible and interactive Community of Practice (CoP) that shaped critical and durable shifts in identity amongst members.

Learning to think spatially in mathematics involves developing proficiency with graphics. This paper reports on 2 investigations of spatial thinking and graphics. The first investigation explored the importance of graphics as 1 of 3 communication systems (i.e. text, symbols, graphics) used to provide information in numeracy test items. The results showed that graphics were embedded in at least 50% of test items across 3 year levels. The second investigation examined 11-12-year-olds' performance on 2 mathematical tasks which required substantial interpretation of graphics and spatial thinking. The outcomes revealed that many students lacked proficiency in the basic spatial skills of visual memory and spatial perception and the more advanced skills of spatial orientation and spatial visualisation. This paper concludes with a reaffirmation of the importance of spatial thinking in mathematics and proposes ways to capitalize on graphics in learning to think spatially.

Graphical tasks have become a prominent aspect of mathematics assessment. From a conceptual stance, the purpose of this study was to better understand the composition of graphical tasks commonly used to assess students' mathematics understandings. Through an iterative design, the investigation described the sense making of 11-12-year-olds as they decoded mathematics tasks which contained a graphic. An ongoing analysis of two phases of data collection was undertaken as we analysed the extent to which various elements of text, graphics, and symbols influenced student sense making. Specifically, the study outlined the changed behaviour (and performance) of the participants as they solved graphical tasks that had been modified with respect to these elements. We propose a theoretical framework for understanding the composition of a graphical task and identify three specific elements which are dependently and independently related to each other, namely: the graphic; the text; and the symbols. Results indicated that although changes to the graphical tasks were minimal, a change in student success and understanding was most evident when the graphic element was modified. Implications include the need for test designers to carefully consider the graphics embedded within mathematics tasks since the elements within graphical tasks greatly influence student understanding.

Representations play a key role in mathematical thinking: They offer "a medium" to express mathematical knowledge or organize mathematical information and to discern mathematical relationships (e.g., relative household expenditures on a pie chart) using text, symbols, or graphics. They also furnish "tools" for mathematical processes (e.g., use of a number line for addition). Thus, students' self-created representations give teachers "windows" into their mathematical thinking. The caveat is that these windows are affected by students' proficiency with representation and teachers' capacity to read (i.e., interpret) students' representations. In this article, the authors use a model to explore the role of representations in student thinking. They then discuss a set of student-created representations produced during an investigation and their implications for instruction. (Contains 6 figures.)

The ability to decode graphics is an increasingly important component of mathematics assessment and curricula. This study examined 50, 9- to 10-year-old students (23 male, 27 female), as they solved items from six distinct graphical languages (e.g., maps) that are commonly used to convey mathematical information. The results of the study revealed: 1) factors which contribute to success or hinder performance on tasks with various graphical representations; and 2) how the literacy and graphical demands of tasks influence the mathematical sense making of students. The outcomes of this study highlight the changing nature of assessment in school mathematics and identify the function and influence of graphics in the design of assessment tasks. (Contains 3 tables.)

The capacity to solve tasks that contain high concentrations of visual-spatial information, including graphs, maps and diagrams, is becoming increasingly important in educational contexts as well as everyday life. This research examined gender differences in the performance of students solving graphics tasks from the Graphical Languages in Mathematics (GLIM) instrument that included number lines, graphs, maps and diagrams. The participants were 317 Australian students (169 males and 148 females) aged 9-12 years. Boys outperformed girls on graphical languages that required the interpretation of information represented on an axis and graphical languages that required movement between two- and three-dimensional representations (generally Map language). (Contains 6 tables.)

The graphics-decoding proficiency (G-DP) instrument was developed as a screening test for the purpose of measuring students' (aged 8-11 years) capacity to solve graphics-based mathematics tasks. These tasks include number lines, column graphs, maps and pie charts. The instrument was developed within a theoretical framework which highlights the various types of information graphics commonly presented to students in large-scale national and international assessments. The instrument provides researchers, classroom teachers and test designers with an assessment tool which measures students' G-DP across and within five broad categories of information graphics. The instrument has implications for a number of stakeholders in an era where graphics have become an increasingly important way of representing information. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)

Number lines are part of people's everyday life and are frequently used in primary mathematics as instructional aids, in texts, and for assessment purposes on mathematics tests. There are two types of number lines; (1) structured number lines, which are the focus of this paper; and (2) empty number lines. Structured number lines represent mathematical information by the placement of marks on a horizontal or vertical line which has been marked into proportional segments. Empty number lines are blank lines which students can use for calculations. In this article, the authors focus on how students' knowledge of the structured number line develops and how they become successful users of this mathematical tool. (Contains 5 figures.)

Mandatory numeracy tests have become commonplace in many countries, heralding a new era in school assessment. New forms of accountability and an increased emphasis on national and international standards (and benchmarks) have the potential to reshape mathematics curricula. It is noteworthy that the mathematics items used in these tests are rich in graphics. Many of the items, for example, require students to have an understanding of information graphics (for example, maps, charts and graphs) in order to solve the tasks. This investigation classifies mathematics items in Australia's inaugural national numeracy tests and considers the effect such standardised testing will have on practice. It is argued that the design of mathematics items is more likely to be a reliable indication of student performance if graphical, linguistic and contextual components are considered both in isolation and in integrated ways as essential elements of task design. (Contains 3 figures and 3 tables.)

Information graphics have become increasingly important in representing, organising and analysing information in a technological age. In classroom contexts, information graphics are typically associated with graphs, maps and number lines. However, all students need to become competent with the broad range of graphics that they will encounter in mathematical situations. This paper provides a rationale for creating a test to measure students' knowledge of graphics. This instrument can be used in mass testing and individual (in-depth) situations. Our analysis of the utility of this instrument informs policy and practice. The results provide an appreciation of the relative difficulty of different information graphics, and provide the capacity to benchmark information about students' knowledge of graphics. The implications for practice include the need to support the development of students' knowledge of graphics, the existence of gender differences, the role of cross-curriculum applications in learning about graphics, and the need to explicate the links among graphics. (Contains 8 tables and 1 figure.)

The 21st century has placed increasing demand on individuals' proficiency with a wide array of visual representations, that is graphics. Hence, proficiency with visual tasks needs to be embedded across the curriculum. In mathematics, various graphics (e.g., maps, charts, number lines, graphs) are used as means of communication of mathematical ideas and also as tools for thinking about these ideas. Thus, to be numerate in contemporary society, all individuals need to make sense of the graphical aspects of mathematics. Although an understanding of representations is critical for numeracy, proficiency with graphics in mathematics is often overlooked. This article highlights the six key types of graphics used in mathematics and provides some suggestions for developing students' ability to interpret each of these types of graphics. As a background to the discussion on types of graphics, two roles of graphics are first discussed. (Contains 8 figures.)

Mathematical investigations are loosely-defined, engaging problem-solving tasks that allow students to ask their own questions, explore their own interests and set their own goals. The value of investigations for students lies in their complexity. Scaffolding plays an important role in supporting students' high-level engagement by encouraging divergent and creative thinking. Scaffolding is "a process that enables a child or novice to solve a problem, carry out a task or achieve a goal which would be beyond his (or her) unassisted efforts." Scaffolding provides the opportunity for students to develop their independence, sense-making and self-confidence whilst working mathematically. However it is incorrect to assume that all conversations between teachers and students amount to scaffolding because not all result in high-level thinking and reasoning in students. Understanding what is ineffective and why, is one way to improve teachers' pedagogical practice. This article describes some of the issues that teachers might encounter when scaffolding students' thinking during mathematical investigations. It describes four episodes in which a teacher's interactions with students failed to support their mathematical thinking and explores the reasons why the scaffolding was ineffective. As a background to these episodes, the authors first provide an overview of the mathematical investigation. The article concludes with some recommendations for scaffolding during investigations. (Contains 5 figures.)

Diezmann presents a series of classroom number-sense activities that encourage young students to use and refine their estimation, prediction, and observation skills. The activities explore the relationships between the number of objects in an opaque container and (1) its fullness and (2) the size of the objects in the container. Informal, on-the-spot assessments inform the teacher's instructional planning and decision making throughout the activities. (Contains 2 figures.)