what is maths and why do we need it?
Mathematics is a human activity, a social phenomenon, a set of methods used to help illuminate the world, and it is part of our culture.
Mathematics is all about illuminating relationships such as those found in shapes and in nature. It is also a powerful way of expressing relationships and ideas in numerical, graphical, symbolic, verbal and pictorial forms. This is the wonder of mathematics.
In the Australian Curriculum, students become numerate as they develop the knowledge and skills to use mathematics confidently across other learning areas at school and in their lives more broadly. Numeracy involves students in recognising and understanding the role of mathematics in the world and having the dispositions and capacities to use mathematical knowledge and skills purposefully. Numeracy is an essential skill for students in becoming successful learners at school and in life beyond school, and in preparing them for their future roles as family, community and workforce members. More broadly, a numerate population is critical in
ensuring the nation’s ongoing prosperity, productivity and workforce participation.
Being numerate encompasses the knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions that students need to use mathematics in a wide range of situations.
Mathematics is all about illuminating relationships such as those found in shapes and in nature. It is also a powerful way of expressing relationships and ideas in numerical, graphical, symbolic, verbal and pictorial forms. This is the wonder of mathematics.
In the Australian Curriculum, students become numerate as they develop the knowledge and skills to use mathematics confidently across other learning areas at school and in their lives more broadly. Numeracy involves students in recognising and understanding the role of mathematics in the world and having the dispositions and capacities to use mathematical knowledge and skills purposefully. Numeracy is an essential skill for students in becoming successful learners at school and in life beyond school, and in preparing them for their future roles as family, community and workforce members. More broadly, a numerate population is critical in
ensuring the nation’s ongoing prosperity, productivity and workforce participation.
Being numerate encompasses the knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions that students need to use mathematics in a wide range of situations.
The Australian Curriculum - Mathematics
Year 6 Level Description:
The proficiency strands Understanding, Fluency, Problem Solving and Reasoning are an integral part of mathematics content across the three content strands: Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability. The proficiencies reinforce the significance of working mathematically within the content and describe how the content is explored or developed. They provide the language to build in the developmental aspects of the learning of mathematics.
At this year level:
Understanding includes describing properties of different sets of numbers, using fractions and decimals to describe probabilities, representing fractions and decimals in various ways and describing connections between them, and making reasonable estimations
Fluency includes representing integers on a number line, calculating simple percentages, using brackets appropriately, converting between fractions and decimals, using operations with fractions, decimals and percentages, measuring using metric units, and interpreting timetables
Problem Solving includes formulating and solving authentic problems using fractions, decimals, percentages and measurements, interpreting secondary data displays, and finding the size of unknown angles
Reasoning includes explaining mental strategies for performing calculations, describing results for continuing number sequences, explaining the transformation of one shape into another, explaining why the actual results of chance experiments may differ from expected results.
Year 7 Level Description:
The proficiency strands Understanding, Fluency, Problem Solving and Reasoning are an integral part of mathematics content across the three content strands: Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability. The proficiencies reinforce the significance of working mathematically within the content and describe how the content is explored or developed. They provide the language to build in the developmental aspects of the learning of mathematics.
At this year level:
Understanding includes describing patterns in uses of indices with whole numbers, recognising equivalences between fractions, decimals, percentages and ratios, plotting points on the Cartesian plane, identifying angles formed by a transversal crossing a pair of lines, and connecting the laws and properties of numbers to algebraic terms and expressions
Fluency includes calculating accurately with integers, representing fractions and decimals in various ways, investigating best buys, finding measures of central tendency and calculating areas of shapes and volumes of prisms
Problem Solving includes formulating and solving authentic problems using numbers and measurements,working with transformations and identifying symmetry, calculating angles and interpreting sets of data collected through chance experiments
Reasoning includes applying the number laws to calculations, applying known geometric facts to draw conclusions about shapes, applying an understanding of ratio and interpreting data displays.
Year 6 Level Description:
The proficiency strands Understanding, Fluency, Problem Solving and Reasoning are an integral part of mathematics content across the three content strands: Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability. The proficiencies reinforce the significance of working mathematically within the content and describe how the content is explored or developed. They provide the language to build in the developmental aspects of the learning of mathematics.
At this year level:
Understanding includes describing properties of different sets of numbers, using fractions and decimals to describe probabilities, representing fractions and decimals in various ways and describing connections between them, and making reasonable estimations
Fluency includes representing integers on a number line, calculating simple percentages, using brackets appropriately, converting between fractions and decimals, using operations with fractions, decimals and percentages, measuring using metric units, and interpreting timetables
Problem Solving includes formulating and solving authentic problems using fractions, decimals, percentages and measurements, interpreting secondary data displays, and finding the size of unknown angles
Reasoning includes explaining mental strategies for performing calculations, describing results for continuing number sequences, explaining the transformation of one shape into another, explaining why the actual results of chance experiments may differ from expected results.
Year 7 Level Description:
The proficiency strands Understanding, Fluency, Problem Solving and Reasoning are an integral part of mathematics content across the three content strands: Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability. The proficiencies reinforce the significance of working mathematically within the content and describe how the content is explored or developed. They provide the language to build in the developmental aspects of the learning of mathematics.
At this year level:
Understanding includes describing patterns in uses of indices with whole numbers, recognising equivalences between fractions, decimals, percentages and ratios, plotting points on the Cartesian plane, identifying angles formed by a transversal crossing a pair of lines, and connecting the laws and properties of numbers to algebraic terms and expressions
Fluency includes calculating accurately with integers, representing fractions and decimals in various ways, investigating best buys, finding measures of central tendency and calculating areas of shapes and volumes of prisms
Problem Solving includes formulating and solving authentic problems using numbers and measurements,working with transformations and identifying symmetry, calculating angles and interpreting sets of data collected through chance experiments
Reasoning includes applying the number laws to calculations, applying known geometric facts to draw conclusions about shapes, applying an understanding of ratio and interpreting data displays.