Twenty third-year students from two rural teachers’ colleges in Jamaica carried out a co-ordinated set of individual investigations into children’s learning of geometrical concepts during their assignment to schools as intern teachers. All the studies, which covered classes from Grade 2 to Grade 10, included some initial testing of children’s knowledge of a selected topic, the teaching of an experimental unit on that topic, and a post-test to measure what had been learnt; several investigators also interviewed other teachers on their attitudes towards geometry teaching.

Two experiments, involving four mathematics tutors and over 400 prospec­tive primary school teachers, were carried out in a Jamaican teachers' college. The first experiment showed conclusively that students could learn geometry and statistics from individualised units, and the second suggested that students learned approximately the same amount about integers from an individualised unit as they did when taught by the traditional lecture method. Questionnaire responses indicated a wide variety of reactions to the new method.

The goal of this action research was to investigate and gather data concerning the effectiveness of technology as a mathematics teaching aid in an Early Childhood Classroom (ECE) at a school in Belmopan, Belize. It aims to understand (1) to what extent the use of technology as a teaching aid increase 12 students’ academic performance and (2) to investigate to what extent the use of tablets aid in stimulating students’ interest as they gain new knowledge and skills about Mathematics topics. The research was planned and conducted over a fiveweeks span in an Infant Two class.

This research (the second part of a 2-part study) sought to investigate selected high school teachers’ knowledge and use of a problem solving approach to mathematics teaching and learning. It also examined the challenges that they experienced in implementing this pedagogical approach. A survey research design was used for this research whereby data were collected using a questionnaire with closed- and open-ended items. Thirty-one high school teachers from Jamaica participated in the study.

This qualitative, collaborative action research study explored preschoolers’ learning of mathematical concepts as their teacher used productive questions as a key pedagogical strategy. The teacher’s use of productive questions was also investigated. One early childhood supervisor, a preschool teacher and eight 4-year old students from her class participated in this research. Data were collected through observations of teacher and students’ question-answer interactions, and semi-structured interviews with the teacher.

A thinking-focused classroom is one which is constructivist in orientation and which places importance on social interactions in the attainment of “taken-as-shared” meanings. While there can never be a prescriptive set of strategies or a set format for such classrooms, there are broad features which generally typify thinking-focused pedagogy. In a thinking-focused mathematics classroom, there is usually a constant focus on sense-making and conceptual understanding, and mathematical thinking is encouraged and valued.

This thesis explores the ways in which two mathematics teachers interpreted and implemented thinking-focused pedagogy in their respective classrooms. The teachers worked in two different types of secondary schools - an upgraded high and a traditional high school - the former situated in rural Jamaica and the latter situated in the capital city, Kingston. The fieldwork was conducted using a qualitative case study and took place during the period September 2002 to August 2003.

Despite the fact that mathematics is compulsory at the secondary level in Jamaica and is required for entry into tertiary institutions and certain jobs, many of our students are overwhelmed by their perception of the impenetrability of the complex world of mathematics. Furthermore, the fundamental value of learning mathematics as a means of developing the higher order skills of reasoning and critical thinking escapes many. 

The article uses action research techniques to explore a recycling initiative to assist teachers to acquire and use instructional materials to improve practice in the mathematics classroom. It shares aspects of my researchjourney into the 'World of Waste' accompanied by my team of pre-service and in-service teacher-participants, in search of mathematics resources. It brings into focus the physical and human resource treasures we unearthed amidst challenges and triumphs, with the Recycling and Resource Centre for Mathematics emerging as a significant find near the end of the journey.

This research investigated the impact of using manipulatives on 56 Grade 5 students’ (27 male, 29 female; age 10-11 years) mathematics achievement. A quasi experimental, action research design was utilized in which the experimental group was taught selected topics from the Number strand using manipulatives during a 3-week intervention, while the control group’s instruction did not include the use of manipulatives. Data were collected using a pre- and post-test and analysed using descriptive statistics and a Mann-Whitney U test.