A Highly Capable Year 6 Student's Response to a Challenging Mathematical Task

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 lesson unfolded she was able to solve the problem. Rather than relying on teacher explanations during the lesson introduction, Debbie benefitted from the support of her teacher during the lesson and sharing of other students' thinking when applying her knowledge to an unfamiliar task. [NOTE: Debbie is a pseudonym.]