Numeracy

Hutt International Boys School is one of a number of schools taking part in the Ministry of Education’s Secondary Numeracy Project. (Over time, all secondary schools will have this opportunity.)

The New Zealand Numeracy Development Project aims to improve the quality of maths teaching and to raise the level of student achievement. Research into how people learn mathematics is an important part of this process.

Within the numeracy projects

• Students are taught the mental strategies that adults actually use when doing mathematics in real life.
• The emphasis is now on how to get the answer rather than just getting the right answer. Students use equipment, diagrams, and pictures to help them show that they understand.
• There’s much more classroom discussion and collaborative work.
• Memorising formal rules is not as important as remembering strategies that help to create an answer.
• Mathematics is more relevant and enjoyable, and students learn how to deal with numbers and mathematical concepts more effectively.

How you can help

• Be positive about what your son can achieve in mathematics. What you say and do can make a big difference to their success.
• Realise that students may learn different ways for getting the answer to a problem, and while one method may be more efficient in some cases, there is no single “correct” method.
• Share methods for doing problems.
• Ask your son to explain how (and why) a strategy they are using works.
• Offer to explain your way of solving the problem – and why it works.

The following link is a website which has a detailed description of the Numeracy Project and the Number Framework. There is also a bank of activities that parents can do at home with their children as well as a glossary of many of the terms used in relation to the Numeracy project.

Website http://www.nzmaths.co.nz/Families/index.aspx