Numeracy | atozforinclusion

Numeracy Skills

It is very important for the teacher to have a very good understanding of maths in order to help diverse students understand maths better. Before one can teach mathematical knowledge to their students they need to understand the two components of maths.

Understanding the difference between these two components helps the teacher understand what we expect the students to learn.

Conceptual Knowledge

This refers to the ideas, concepts and relationships. Rational counting is part if this knowledge, this is attaching numbers to groups of objects, shapes and angles. For example 3/4 stands for 3 parts of a whole divided into 4.

Procedural Knowledge

This involves all the symbols and procedures used in mathematics, for example, = (equals), - (minus), + (plus) and so on. For example 3/4 is a symbol for a fraction.

Understanding Maths

Maths Language

The language used when teaching maths is very important as it may cause confusion to the students. Hence it is very important for teachers to avoid using phrases such as "borrow", "take away" and "goes into". We must be sure to use the actual math language such as "subtract", "add", "one more" and so on. This way the students will learn the concepts together with the relevant symbols.

Math Manipulation Materials

Students with or without disabilities find it easier to understand concepts of mathematics when the right manipulation materials are used. We can find four types of manipulation materials.

Concrete Manipulations

These are the most basic forms of manipulation materials. These include objects that represent numbers, the object representing number 5 will be 5 times larger than the object representing 1.

Suitable for ages 6 to 16

Cuisinaire Rods

Suitable for ages 5 to 12

Digi - Blocks

Counting Bears

Suitable for ages 5 to 12

Suitable for ages 6 to 16

Base Ten Blocks

Representational Manipulations

Here an object may represent a number but unlike concrete manipulations the objects are not proportionate in size, different colors may represent different multiples.

Suitable for ages 5 to 16