1 The rewards and difficulties of “Working Mathematically”

The new NSW 7- 10 Mathematics Syllabus For the past year, NSW schools have been teaching mathematics to students in Years 7 and 8 (students mostly at “stage 4 ” level) from a new syllabus. There is little change in the mathematical content of the new syllabus compared with the previous one. The major change is that the new syllabus specifies the teaching process. The Problem Solving strand in the previous syllabus has been replaced with a strand called Working Mathematically. Working Mathematically is described as a “process strand”. Rather than being taught as a separate strand, it is to be interwoven with each of the remaining five strands, described as “content strands”. For each content strand, the syllabus lists specific activities under the heading of “Working Mathematically”. The objective is that: Students will develop knowledge, skills and understanding through inquiry, application of problem-solving strategies including the selection and use o