Colleen ValeThe diversity of mathematics achievement in junior secondary mathematics and the problems of engaging students have been well documented. Many researchers including regular presenters at MERGA conferences have explored the misconceptions and mathematical thinking strategies of students who are at risk of not achieving the numeracy benchmark standards. Howard and colleagues have reported the successful outcomes of a structured intervention program conducted in the middle years with students in schools in New South Wales. However teachers in junior secondary mathematics classrooms struggle to adopt reform practices and implement intervention strategies or programs that adequately address the needs of at risk students. During this round table discussion, the findings from a numeracy intervention project in which teachers from one school participated in action research will be presented. The teachers gained new insights and understanding of their students’ mathematical thinking and made small steps in changing classroom practices and learning activities that enabled improvements for some students in their classes. Division thinking and the relationship of division concepts to fractions emerged as one issue for further research that participants of the round table discussion may want to pursue in particular. Through this round table I would like to invite other researchers to discuss their experiences of working with secondary school teachers on intervention with a view to collaborating in the development of a large-scale numeracy intervention project for students in junior secondary mathematics.
