The purpose of this article is to explain the authors' model of numeracy and outline how the project was conducted. The idea of numeracy is a relatively recent one. The term was first introduced in the UK by the "Crowther Report" (Ministry of Education, 1959) and was defined as the mirror image of literacy, but involving quantitative thinking.…

This article describes a teacher's Maths lesson that focuses on numeracy in health and physical education learning area. In the lesson, the students were learning about Directed Numbers, something they often struggle with and a topic where the teacher finds it hard to explain using real life situations when using addition and subtraction. The…

There is persistent evidence of poor levels of financial literacy in a number of sectors of the Australian community. Young people, in particular, tend to fare badly in studies of financial literacy levels. A recent study commissioned by the Commonwealth Bank Foundation found that 16-25 year-olds constitute 42% of the bottom quartile, and only 4%…

Contemporary debates on effective pedagogies for K-12 mathematics have called for shifts in the way teachers and teacher educators conceptualise mathematics as a subject and how it should be taught. This is reflected by changes in the curriculum including the inclusion of a strand called Working Mathematically within K-12 mathematics curriculum…

The definition is an important language form in the register of mathematics. Students need to understand the structure of a definition so that they can make sense of the definitions they encounter and so that they can construct their own definitions as part of organising their thoughts about the concepts they have explored. This article suggests…

Provides a conceptual framework that can be used by teachers to analyze student responses that incorporates learning technologies. Introduces an assessment task on exponential functions that illustrates how the rubric can be used to identify an individual's level of performance. (ASK)

Numeracy may become a focus on the teaching and assessment of basic number skills. Such a focus on numeracy may de-emphasize the aim for numeracy, which is using mathematics in real contexts where the purpose of the activity is something other than just learning school mathematics. (Contains 11 references.) (ASK)

Outlines a few classroom applications of mathematics using commercial internet sites such as internet banking, house plans, garden watering systems, and industrial awards. (ASK)

Creates graphs to see how the relative frequency of an event tends to approach the probability of that event as the number of trials increases. Uses a simulation of a poker machine to provide context for this subject. (ASK)

Discusses the mistakes of Kirschner, the German philosopher and mathematician, in calculating factorials of large numbers by hand in the 1600s. Uses computer technology to calculate those numbers now. (ASK)

Discusses the geometric features of a building called the Alhambra in a city in the southernmost region of Australia called Granada. Describes plane patterns and analyzes those patterns while focusing on the plane symmetry. (ASK)

Presents an activity using the familiar fairy tale "Cinderella" to provide the context for stimulating mathematical thinking about a real life problem. Makes use of graphing calculator technology to investigate the relationship between shoe sizes and shoe lengths. (ASK)

Describes the most enduring link between Napoleon and mathematics as the geometric result known as Napoleon's Theorem, which states that if equilateral triangles are drawn on the three sides of any triangle, the line segments joining the centers of these equilateral triangles will themselves form an equilateral triangle. (ASK)

Presents a probability activity addressing students' misconceptions regarding the Law of Large Numbers. Provides students with better conceptual understanding of the Law of Large Numbers. (ASK)

Discusses issues regarding problem solving environments via problem posing. Recognizes the importance of the teacher's questions; language characteristics of problems; problem structure and feature; solution structure; teacher's questions used before, during, or after solving a problem; and introducing problem-posing questions in mathematics…