Number

Topic: First Steps

Year Level

Content Type

Audience

Learning Area

The Number strand focuses on numbers and operations—what they mean, how we represent them, and how and why we use them in our everyday lives. As a result of their learning, students will develop a good sense of numbers and operations and the relationships between them. Students will develop confidence in their ability to deal with numerical situations with flexibility, ease and efficiency.

To achieve this, students require a sound grasp of the meanings of numbers and how we write them. They also need to develop an understanding of the meaning and use of basic operations, a working and flexible repertoire of computational skills, and the capacity to identify and work with number patterns and relationships. A wide range of learning experiences will enable students to understand numbers, understand operations, and to calculate and reason about number patterns and relationships.

As a result they will be able to achieve the following outcomes.

Understand Whole and Decimal Numbers

Read, write and understand the meaning, order and relative magnitudes of whole and decimal numbers, moving flexibly between equivalent forms.

Understand Fractional Numbers

Read, write and understand the meaning, order and relative magnitudes of fractional numbers, moving flexibly between equivalent forms.

Understand Operations

Understand the meaning, use and connections between addition, multiplication, subtraction and division.

Calculate

Choose and use a repertoire of mental, paper and calculator computational strategies for each operation, meeting required degrees of accuracy and judging the reasonableness of results.