The 15 th International Congress on Mathematical Education Sydney, 7-14 July, 2024 PAPER TEMPLATE 1 DEEPENING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF HOW PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS USE GAMES TO SUPPORT MATHEMATICS INSTRUCTION James Russo Monash University Mathematical games are widely employed by primary school teachers in many countries to support mathematics instruction. Despite broad usage, teacher decision making in relation to both why they choose to use mathematical games as a pedagogical tool more generally, and which games they choose to use in their classrooms specifically, has received scant attention in the research literature. For example, although digital and non-digital games have both been shown to be effective for supporting student engagement in mathematics, little is known about educator preferences for a particular game mode (i.e., digital versus non-digital), and the factors that influence these preferences. Similarly, given the abundance of different game variations potentially available to teachers, it is valuable to have a deeper understanding of the context in which teachers might choose games of one particular structure over another (e.g., competitive games versus collaborative games). To shed light on these issues, and to assist in bridging this gap between research and practice, this lecture (and associated paper) discusses a series of studies focusing on Australian primary school teachers’ use of mathematical games. Collectively, these studies have assisted us in taking initial steps towards deepening our community’s understanding of this potentially powerful, and undeniably prevalent, pedagogical tool. INTRODUCTION This lecture (and associated paper) endeavors to summarize recent research into mathematical games that I have been involved in undertaking, alongside my colleagues Leicha Bragg (Victoria University), Toby Russo (Department of Education, Victoria), Penelope Kalogeropoulos (Monash University), Anne Roche (Monash University) and Michael Minas (LoveMaths). In doing so, it draws directly on a number of other recently published works (see Russo, Bragg & Russo, 2021; Russo, Russo & Bragg, 2021; Russo, Bragg et al., 2023; Russo, Roche et al., 2023; Russo et al., 2024). 1 Most of our research has focused specifically on how primary school teachers use mathematical games to support mathematics instruction, which we identified as an under-researched area. Moreover, our research has predominantly focused on non-digital games, primarily because, as will become clearer throughout this lecture, these are the games that primary school teachers prefer to use in their classrooms. Defining a mathematical game Through synthesizing earlier definitions of games (Bragg, 2006; Gough, 1999; Harvey & Bright, 1985; Mousoulides & Sriraman, 2014; Oldfield, 1991), we have defined a mathematical game as an activity that possesses the following characteristics. A mathematical game: 1 Note that when the research findings from one of these key references is the focus of a given section, the reference is provided once in bold font, but not referred to in the section thereafter.