Mathematics: She’ll be write!

Funding year: 
2007
Duration:
1 year
Organisation: 
University of Canterbury
Sector: 
School sector
Project start date: 
January 2007
Project end date: 
January 2008
Principal investigator(s): 
Tamsin Meaney
Research team members: 
Tony Trinick and Uenuku Fairhall
Research partners: 
Teachers at Kura Kaupapa Maori o Te Koutu

Project Description
 

How students learn to speak, read, and write science and mathematics, and what is taking 
place in the classroom, laboratory, or informal learning context are critical areas for research. 
(Lerman, 2007, p. 756) 
 
The focus of this Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) project was to discover effective ways to develop students’ mathematical writing in te reo Māori. It was assumed that this would lead to better understanding of mathematics. The investigation was undertaken at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o te Koutu which caters for students from Years 0–13, many of whom are second language users of te reo Māori. It involved all the teachers as well as two outside researchers considering a number of issues around the role of writing in mathematics.