This study explored the collaboration of mathematically gifted children aged 11-12 years in solving complex, novel problems by examining the student's preferences for collaboration in relation to the difficulty of the task being undertaken. Using a qualitative methodology, we show that there is a relationship between the complexity of the task and the extent and type of collaborative interactions in which students engaged. Collaboration was preferred only when the task was sufficiently challenging. However, in the context where collaboration was encouraged and students took advantage of working with peers, there was the development of mutual scaffolding, shared cognition, critical thinking, and the ability to discern and monitor goal states for the problems. The implications of this study for the education of mathematically gifted students are discussed.

A major challenge facing teachers is how they can help children to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to become scientifically literate citizens. Early childhood teachers are often hesitant about teaching science because they lack confidence in their conceptual knowledge and understandings. This paper describes a professional development initiative which enhances teachers’ understanding of science concepts, and supports their teaching of the subject. The workshops adopted a ‘child-centred’ approach that was scaffolded by teacher educators. Thus, the teachers’ learning paralleled those exemplary experiences advocated for children. Feedback from teachers was overwhelmingly positive and they reported an increased motivation for teaching science coupled with a better understanding of contemporary strategies. By capitalising on personal experiences of investigation of everyday phenomena in the workshop, teachers were able to identify those contemporary approaches consistent with effective science teaching and to understand why these approaches are effective.

The capacity to solve tasks that contain high concentrations of visualespatial information, including graphs, maps and diagrams, is becoming increasingly important in educational contexts as well as everyday life. This research examined gender differences in the performance of students solving graphics tasks from the Graphical Languages in Mathematics (GLIM) instrument that included number lines, graphs, maps and diagrams. The participants were 317 Australian students (169 males and 148 females) aged 9e12 years. Boys outperformed girls on graphical languages that required the interpretation of information represented on an axis and graphical languages that required movement between twoand three-dimensional representations (generally Map language).

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Recruitment of highly qualified science and mathematics graduates has become a widespread strategy to enhance the quality of education in the field of STEM. However, attrition rates are very high suggesting preservice education programs are not preparing them well for the career change. We analyse the experiences of professionals who are scientists and have decided to change careers to become teachers. The study followed a group of professionals who undertook a one-year preservice teacher education course and were employed by secondary schools on graduation. We examined these teachers' experiences through the lens of self-determination theory, which posits autonomy, confidence and relatedness are important in achieving job satisfaction. The findings indicated that the successful teachers were able to achieve a sense of autonomy and confidence, and, in particular, had established strong relationships with colleagues. However, the unique challenges facing career-change professionals were often overlooked by administrators and colleagues. Opportunities to build a sense of relatedness in their new profession were often absent. The failure to establish supportive relationships was decisive in some teachers leaving the profession. The findings have implications for both pre-service and professional inservice programs and the role that administrators play in supporting career-change teachers.