Addressing the STEM challenge through targeted teaching : What’s the evidence?

Numerous public reports are pointing to the critical importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) to Australia’s future, but the number of students studying STEM subjects in senior years is declining, and many students in the primary and middle years of schooling do not have access to the ways of thinking and learning needed to succeed in school mathematics. Research over the past 10 years has established the critical role of multiplicative thinking in building student knowledge and confidence at this level of schooling, but there is a need for an expanded, evidence-based learning and teaching framework to support the development of mathematical reasoning more generally, if students are to have a realistic chance of actively participating in a STEM future. This session will report on the findings and experience of an Australian Maths and Science Partnerships Programme (AMSPP) Priority Project in 2013 that explored the efficacy of formative assessment and targeted teaching in relation to multiplicative thinking in a number of secondary schools around Australia. It will also introduce the work of the Reframing Mathematical Futures II AMSPP project, which is aimed at building sustainable, evidence-based, integrated learning and teaching resources to support the development of mathematical reasoning in Years 7 to 10 in relation to algebra, geometry, statistics and probability