Abstract:
A school-based numeracy initiative, conducted in one NSW metropolitan primary school,
trialled an innovative approach to improving mathematics for low achievers. The project
involved 683 low-achieving students aged from 5 to 12 years, 27 teachers, and three
researchers over a 9-month period. A Pattern and Structure Assessment (PASA) interview
and a Pattern and Structure Mathematics Awareness Program (PASMAP) focused on
improving students' visual memory, the ability to identify and apply patterns, and to seek
structure in mathematical ideas and representations. There was a marked improvement in
PASA scores particularly in the early grades and substantial improvements found in
school-based and system-wide measures of mathematical achievement.
