Numeracy Place Value

The purpose of this essay is to form a deep understanding of three mathematical concepts, numeracy, number sense and place value. As a teacher understanding the definition of these concepts is vital to deliver an authentic math experience. Both numeracy and number sense are linked directly to place value, with place value giving deeper meaning to both. Thus a teacher of mathematics must seek out computational activities that build from student’s pre-base-ten cognitive development allowing them opportunities to bring their prior learning into the classroom to further investigate mathematical problems. Social context is also important to any teacher, but plays a multimodal role within the math classroom. Both gender and socio-economic divides

For example our monetary system is a working example of place value. Ten one dollar coins can be grouped and exchanged for a ten dollar note, ten, ten dollar notes make up one hundred dollars and can be grouped in a number of ways to depict this (10 groups of one, 5 groups of two or 2 groups of five all give us the same answer). Numeracy links to place value here by allowing us to make analytical decisions about how much we can purchase with our money and engages our decision making when getting change back from a purchase to ensure the correct about of money was given or

Social context includes how students interact with their peers and teacher within classroom. This is particularly important for girls in a math classroom. Girls historically have been treated with a level of inequality when they struggle with picking up mathematical concepts (Streitmatter, 1997). Social context also includes student’s socioeconomic position, home life in general and their guardian’s attitudes towards mathematics. Home life has a profound effect upon what students bring into the classroom and how they develop mathematical concepts. Student’s home life may not hold mathematical knowledge highly or their guardian’s may not have the knowledge to support them in their math educational endeavors (Department of Education and the Arts Tasmania, 1992). Social context can also refer to the teacher’s pedagogy philosophies. These philosophies may have the greatest individual impact upon developing student’s place value understanding. This is because the classroom is where they will undertake their mathematics education on a daily basis. Two leading theories are constructivism championed by Jean Piaget, who argued that students do not enter a classroom without any prior learning but can create their own learning experiences. Juxtaposed to Piaget is Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory which has multiple aspects one which speaks specifically about the social