Numeracy

In the Humanities and Social Sciences curriculum, students develop numeracy capability as they apply numeracy skills in relation to civic, economic and business, geographical and historical inquiries. Students count and measure data and information, construct and interpret tables and graphs, and calculate and interpret statistics in their investigations. Students learn to use scaled timelines, including those involving negative and positive numbers, as well as calendars and dates, to recall information on topics of historical significance and to illustrate the passing of time. They collect data through methods such as surveys and field tests. They construct and interpret maps, models, diagrams, and remotely sensed and satellite images, working with numerical concepts of grids, scale, distance, area and projections.

Students learn to analyse numerical data to make meaning of the past, to test relationships in patterns and between variables, such as the effects of location and distance, and to draw conclusions. They make predictions and forecast outcomes based on civic, economic and business data, and environmental and historical information, and represent their findings in numerical and graphical form. Students use numeracy to understand the principles of financial management, and to make informed consumer, financial and business decisions. They appreciate the ways numeracy knowledge and skills are used in society and apply these to hypothetical and real-life experiences.