In Leading Improvement in Mathematics Teaching and Learning, Emeritus Professor Peter Sullivan curates high-impact teaching strategies and practices to help school leaders achieve improvement goals. This extract for Teacher’s bookshelf is on choosing classroom tasks.

Mathematics education has been a clear focus of our editorial content this month, and in this episode of Teacher Staffroom, we’re going to share some of the highlights. At the same time, we’ll be sharing some pieces on curriculum reform and requirements, as well as some contributions written by teachers, school leaders and researchers.

The International Mathematical Modeling Challenge asks students to work collaboratively on a mathematical task related to the real world. Here, Ross Turner, who leads Australia’s involvement in the challenge, describes this year’s task.

A new set of resources developed by experts at the Australian Council for Educational Research aims to provide an evidence-based approach to the development of critical thinking, creative thinking and collaboration. Dr Claire Scoular shares details and examples of the frameworks in today’s article.

An international mathematical modelling competition, open to secondary students in Australia, has seen senior secondary students work collaboratively on a complex, real-world mathematics problem. Here, we speak to two teachers who guided students through the competition.

National Science Week – an annual celebration of science and technology in Australia – is going to look a little different in schools this year due to COVID-19. The Australian Science Teachers Association coordinate school involvement in the event, and have had to make significant changes to what celebrations will look like this year.

In today’s reader submission Lanella Sweet, Extension and Enrichment Teacher at Wesley College in Melbourne, shares examples of classroom investigations designed to help students understand and develop their use of mathematical language, and its links with other areas of the curriculum.

As students return to classrooms after COVID-19 lockdowns, teachers should focus on rebuilding relationships, avoid rushing through missed content, and preference a deep understanding of a few topics over a superficial understanding of many, according to a new article published in the Mathematics Education Research Journal.

Has your school been thinking about or working to develop STEM lessons? Are you contemplating building connections with industry? Our latest reader submission shares details of research exploring the impact of school-industry partnerships.

Despite the global interest in equipping students with 21st Century skills, there remains a lack of agreement on what terms should be used to describe these skills. In this video infographic, we look at some terms used across the world.