Barbara TadichTeaching young adolescents today requires not only an understanding of content and pedagogical knowledge, but an understanding of students’ developmental stages and an approach which prioritises the students’ preferred learning environment. From a case study of a Year 9 mathematics classroom, this report will identify and explain how certain characteristics and qualities of a student-directed program and a range of classroom conditions influenced student attitudes to the learning of mathematics. The focus will be student perceptions of the learning of mathematics along with an examination of students’ preferred learning conditions and the influence of the classroom environment on mathematical learning.