Australia has a National Numeracy Learning Progression (NNLP) that is strongly aligned with the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics. This article examines how a sub-element within this progression could be impacting students’ learning of Science. This sub-element is firmly based on Mathematics education research as to how students build their understanding of geometric measurement (the structure of length, area and volume). Mathematics educators subsequently researched children’s measurement of mass and included it within the same sub-element of the NNLP. The contexts in which mass and volume are measured in Mathematics are different to those used in teaching Science. This article presents two studies that used variation theory and task-based interviews of children in Years 5 and 6, to explore their thinking about mass and volume in a Science context. The findings suggest that mathematical constructs in geometric measurement could be constraining the development of scientific ideas about matter. This research has implications for furthering the development of the NNLP to encompass scientific aspects of measuring matter.

澳大利亚有一个与澳大利亚课程：数学高度一致的国家算术学习进展 (NNLP)。本文研究了这一进程中的一个子元素如何影响学生对科学的学习。这个子元素牢固地基于数学教育研究，即学生如何建立对几何测量（长度、面积和体积的结构）的理解。数学教育工作者随后研究了儿童的质量测量，并将其包含在 NNLP 的同一子元素中。在数学中测量质量和体积的环境与在科学教学中使用的环境不同。本文介绍了两项使用变异理论和基于任务的访谈对 5 年级和 6 年级儿童的研究，在科学背景下探索他们对质量和体积的思考。研究结果表明，几何测量中的数学结构可能会限制有关物质的科学思想的发展。这项研究对进一步发展 NNLP 以涵盖测量物质的科学方面具有重要意义。