Assessment 1: Essay
Unit Code: EDU10003 The World of Maths
Students Name: Cindy Nguyen
Student Number: 100571470
The use of mathematics and numeracy has a become an important aspect in our world. The use of both mathematics and numeracy has become one of the most important aspect in our daily lives. Many individuals in the world assume that they’re both the same but, in fact they are two different concepts that have different roles to play in our world. In this essay, we will define and explore the aspects of numeracy and mathematics by discussing the similarities and differences in order to differentiate the two from each other. Furthermore, we will also discover the great ways in which math emetics and numeracy phenomenon’s that can be found around us.
Numeracy is the ability to use and apply mathematics in an everyday context. For example, to avoid spending a large amount of money on groceries and other necessities individuals set a budget for themselves and make a list of things they important to buy and the quantity needed. Another example of numeracy is distance and telling the time. An individual who needs to take public transport to an interview must plan their journey ahead of the interview in order to get there on time. They must determine the distance they need to travel to get to the train station and the distance they must travel to their interview location. They also may need to top of up their Myki if needed and identify when the train will be coming as well. These examples discussed are means of applying our knowledge of mathematics in the real world. Numeracy is the “capacity, confidence and disposition to use mathematics to meet the demands of learning, school home, work, community and civic life” according to Grimley (2017). Being numerate involves being able to recognise where mathematics can be used in a context, applying the appropriate mathematics tool in a particular situation and being able to understand the reason use of mathematics in the situation. Assessing the means of numeracy can be done through the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy or known as NAPLAN for short. NAPLAN incorporates literacy with numeracy by rewording questions in words refraining from using any mathematical terms to provide students with authentic situations where students will need to apply their knowledge in mathematics and literacy to solve the various questions. Researchers have found that a proportion of students found answering these types of numeracy incorporated literacy questions due to the students lack of literacy skills. It was identified that students could not understand the problem which is the reason why it was somewhat difficult for some students (Grimley, 2016). As a result of this, it demonstrates the importance literacy and numeracy and being able to understand the application of mathematics.
Mathematics is defined as “the study of patterns, relationships and abstract ides” (Grimley, 2017). Mathematics invol...
