Enhancing proportional reasoning, a fundamental but elusive cornerstone of numeracy, through educational technology applications (2011-2014)

Numeracy is a core life skill. A key indicator of numeracy is proportional reasoning; a pervasive yet elusive concept, the development of which is critical in the middle years of schooling. Research repeatedly highlights students' (and teachers') difficulties with proportion and proportion-related tasks, a deficit identified in international assessments. We draw on and extend theories to enhance knowledge of proportional reasoning, collaborating with teachers to investigate the efficacy of cross-curricular learning activities targeting proportional reasoning and embedding technologies. Expected outcomes include a theorised instructional framework and measures of teacher and student proportional reasoning growth mediated by technologies.