Editorial.

Marshall, Linda ; Swan, Paul

By the time you read this one-fourth of the year will be over. At the start of the year, like us, you probably set some goals for the year. How are they going? As editors of APMC we would like to encourage you to set the following goal. Read one article in every issue in detail and try one idea from that article. We appreciate not every article will suit every teacher, but we believe there will be at least one article of interest in each issue that will suit your situation. When you have tried an idea, re-read the article and compare your findings to those of the author.

We have been involved in a project designed to support principals and leaders improve the teaching of mathematics in their schools. Professional learning was raised as a concern, especially in schools outside of the metropolitan area. Leaders were relying on outside support, which unfortunately in recent years has been reduced. We suggested that some staff meeting and professional development time be spent in a 'book club' style discussion, where groups of teachers read an article and then discuss it and consider the implications for the school and their individual classrooms. All of the leaders thought the idea was excellent. However, they were uncertain as to where to find quality articles for consideration in the 'book club'. The good news is that you need look no further than APMC. APMC is full of contemporary articles about mathematics education that are designed to stimulate thinking about the teaching and learning of mathematics.

Consider the articles in this issue. Early childhood teachers would be interested in young children's ideas about measurement and how Amy MacDonald collected evidence about young children's thinking about measurement concepts. Her summary of the literature on teaching measurement is well worth considering at a 'book club' discussion.

Principals and leaders will appreciate what Lorna Quinnell and Merilyn Carter have to say about the use of symbols in primary mathematics. They consider the types of symbols used in NAPLAN testing and provide some teaching ideas for improving understanding of symbols. This article would be a must for all Year 3, 5 and teachers--although we think all teachers should read and discuss it.

A great deal of time, money and effort has gone into the use of ICT in primary classrooms, but just how much impact is ICT having in the classroom? Lorraine Day has surveyed the use of ICT in schools and indicates some concerns about the types of applications that are being used and how ICT is integrated into mathematics lessons. The results provide plenty of food for thought.

Many students find decimals a difficult topic to understand, so why not consider what Belinda Beaman has to say about her experiences teaching decimals. We love reading articles from teachers. The authentic setting adds to the richness of the article. We believe teachers will identify with many of the comments made in the article.

Mental computation would be a component of most mathematics lessons in Australia. Marlene Chesney from Tasmania describes a study where students were asked to describe the mental methods that they used to complete a series of calculations. There are many excellent reminders in the article that will stimulate discussion at a 'book club' meeting.

On a final note, you may have noticed that APMC is now 40 pages long. We have added an extra 8 pages so that we can share more articles with our readers. We have been inundated with articles over the last two years and some authors are having to wait between nine months and a year to be published. We thank AAMT for making the commitment to increase the size of Australia's premier primary mathematics journal. In future editions we would love to see an article describing how a school adopted the 'book club' idea.