CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 48Science Education and PedagogyEducation, Achievement, and GiftednessEarly Childhood Education and Development

Mathematics and science across the transition from primary to secondary school: a systematic literature review

Open access
Kaur, Tandeep, McLoughlin, Eilish, Grimes, Paul·2022·International Journal of STEM Education
DOI 10.1186/s40594-022-00328-0
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

This study presents the findings from a systematic review of literature (1990–2020) of mathematics and science transition from primary to secondary education. The purpose of this review was to explore factors that influence students’ experiences of mathematics and science transition from primary to secondary school, implications of these experiences and measures that have been used to support students during these transitions. In total, 73 publications related to mathematics transition and 47 publications related to science transition were analysed. Synthesis of findings identified three factors, namely student self-regulation, school and academic related, and social factors that contribute to shaping students’ positive or negative experiences of mathematics and science transitions. The review findings suggest that no single factor can be attributed to influence students’ experiences of mathematics and science transition and an interplay between various factors contributes to these experiences. The implications of difficult transition experiences were identified as shifts in students’ academic achievement, attitudes towards mathematics and science and constructs related to identity development. Recommendations for future research are proposed to address gaps identified in current literature.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1186/s40594-022-00328-0

Cites

149 of 149 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Early mathematics emphasizes basic numeracy and playful learning, whereas later stages involve more abstract, demanding and advanced content, where math anxiety and declining motivation and engagement become especially salient.

    “Whereas early mathematics emphasizes basic numeracy and playful learning, later stages involve more abstract, demanding and advanced content, where issues such as math anxiety and declining motivation and engagement become especially salient (Kaur et al., 2022;Pekrun et al., 2017).”

    From Gamification on Mathematics Engagement and Motivation in Secondary School and Higher Education: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2026) · cites this paper as Kaur et al., 2022

    The Mathematics education and Student self-regulation factors sections report declining attitudes toward mathematics and increased anxiety around the primary-to-secondary transition. The section on implications of transition also reports declines in motivation and engagement among secondary students. The paper does not establish the claimed contrast between early numeracy and playful learning and later abstract content; its School-related and academic factors section says teaching practices, rather than increased content or workload, pose the greater transition challenge. The supplied passages have no page numbers. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 14

  1. Athanasiou, C., & Philippou, G. N. (2006). Motivation and perceptions of classroom culture in mathematics of students across grades 5 to 7. In J. Novotna, H. Moraova, M. Kratka, & N. Stehlikova (Eds.), Pme 30: Proceed- ings of the 30th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, 2, 81-88. https:// eric. ed. gov/? id= ED496 932
  2. In O. Figueras, J. L. Cortina, S. Alatorre, T. Rojano, & A. Sepulveda (Eds.), Proceedings of the Joint Meeting of PME 32 and PME-NA XXX, Vol 2 (pp. 105-112).
  3. Evans, D., & Field, A. P. (2020b). Predictors of mathematical attainment trajec- tories across the primary-to-secondary education transition: Parental factors and the home environment: Predictors of maths attainment. Royal Society Open Science, 7, 7. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1098/ rsos. 20042 2rsos 200422 · DOI
  4. Fitzallen, N. (2015). STEM education: What does mathematics have to ofer? In M. Marshman (Ed.), Mathematics education in the margins. Proceedings of the 38th annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (pp. 237-244). Sydney: MERGA
  5. Fraser, B. J., Tobin, K., & McRobbie, C. J. (Eds.). (2012). Second international hand- book on science education. Springer.
  6. Goos, M., Ryan, V., Lane, C., Leahy, K., Walsh, G., O'Connell, T., ... & Nizar, A. (2020). Review of Literature to Identify a Set of Effective Interventions for Addressing Gender Balance in STEM in Early Years, Primary and Post- Primary Education Settings. Department of Education and Skills.
  7. Howard, P., Perry, B., & Tracey, D. (1997). Mathematics and manipulatives: Comparing primary and secondary teachers' views. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education, Brisbane.
  8. Hurley, M. M. (2001). Reviewing integrated science and mathematics: The search for evidence and definitions from new perspectives. School Science and Mathematics, 101(5), 259-268. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1111/j. 1949-8594. 2001. tb180 28 · DOI
  9. Jindal-Snape, D., Cantali, D., MacGillivray, S. & Hannah, E. (2019) Primary to secondary school transitions: Systematic literature review (Edinburgh, The Scottish Government).
  10. In J. Novotna, H. Moraova, M. Kratka, & N. Stehlikova (Eds.), PME 30: Proceedings of the 30th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, 4, 105-112.
  11. McCormack, L. (2016). The Use of CASE to Bridge the Transition between Primary and Secondary School Science in Ireland. School Science Review, 98(362), 47-54. Retrieved from https:// bura. brunel. ac. uk/ bitst ream/ 2438/ 13364/1/ Fullt ext. pdf
  12. McGee, C., Ward, R., Gibbons, J., & Harlow, A. (2003). Transition to secondary school: A literature review. A Report to the Ministry of Education. Hamil- ton, University of Waikato, New Zealand.
  13. Murphy, C., Mullaghy, M., & D' Arcy, A. (2016). 'Scientists are not always right, but they do their best. ' Irish children's perspectives of innovations in science teaching and learning. School Science Review, 98(362), 55-65. Retrieved from https:// www. acade mia. edu/ 31304 963/ SSR_ Septe mber_ 2016
  14. Prendergast, M., O'Meara, N., O'Hara, C., Harbison, L., & Cantley, I. (2019). Bridg- ing the primary to secondary school mathematics divide: Teachers' perspectives. Issues in Educational Research, 29(1), 243-260. http:// hdl. handle. net/ 10344/ 7515

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Kaur, T., McLoughlin, E., & Grimes, P.
Affiliations
Dublin City University (IE)
Corresponding author
Kaur, Tandeep
ORCID
Venue
International Journal of STEM Education
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2022-02-04
Volume
9
Issue
1
ISSN
2196-7822 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1186/s40594-022-00328-0
OpenAlex
W4210647964
Cited by
48
References
149
Citations by year
2026: 16 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 6
FWCI
1.93
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • International Journal of STEM Education (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • HAL (submittedVersion)
  • Dublin City University Open Access Institutional Repository (Dublin City University) (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
Erasmus+ KA201 programme of the European Union (2020-1-IE01-KA201-066069)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Education › Science Education and Pedagogy
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Education, Achievement, and Giftedness
  • Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
Keywords
transition to secondary school, mathematics education, science education, student experience, student self-regulation, academic performance, attitudes towards mathematics, attitudes toward science, identity construction, school factors, social factors

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review