Elmwood High School
Numeracy Across the Curriculum or
I read the news today. Oh boy!
Darren Kuropatwa
Dept. Head Mathematics
Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute

Clarence Fisher, Globally Literate
K12 Online Conference
Literacy is always changing ... with your location geographically and in time. All definitions have consistently had three components:
(1) Literacy = Comprehension
(2) Literacy = Production
(3) Literacy = Interactive

Literacy: (noun) the ability to read and write.

David Warlick
Redefining Literacy for the 21st Century
“If all your kids learn to do is read and write, they won't be literate.”
Is All Information Knowledge?

• text literacy (what's text?)
• information literacy
• technological literacy
• media literacy
• internet literacy (hypertext, validity of sources, reading links, site ownership)
• visual literacy (Photographs, cartoons, line drawings, diagrams, concept maps, ...)
• mathematical literacy
• and more ...

Cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at
Cmabrigde Uinervtisy. It dn'seot mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.

Miittluvraae asilyans sattes an idtenossiy ctuoonr epilsle is the itternoiecsn of a panle pleralal to the xl-yapne and the sruacfe of a btiiarave nmarol dbttiisruein.
Multivariate analysis states an isodensity contour ellipse is the intersection of a plane parallel to the xy-plane and the surface of a bivariate normal distribution.

Does numeracy matter?
1997

Does Numeracy matter?
• Unemployment/low employment tied to poor numeracy rather than literacy
• poor numeracy + poor literacy = manual occupations.
• followed closely, not [by those] with poor literacy + competent numeracy, but
[by those] with competent literacy + poor numeracy
• People without numeracy skills suffered worse disadvantage in employment than those with poor literacy skills alone. (--> school, jobs)
• One feature of the modern labour market is the relentless decline in unskilled and partly skilled occupations. Our case studies showed that people with poor numeracy were in exactly these kinds of jobs.
Source : (Basic Skills Agency, UK 1997)

Bermuda
Italy
International Adult
Literacy and Skills Survey
2003
United States
Norway
Switzerland

International Adult
Literacy and Skills Survey
• literacy and numeracy skills contribute to individuals’ economic and social well-being.
• 48% of adult Canadians aged 16 and over– perform below Level 3 on the literacy scales
• 55% of adult Canadians aged 16 and over– perform below Level 3 on the numeracy scales
• little change in Canadian literacy performance between 1994 and 2003.
• Proficiency of Canadians, aged 16 to 65, in literacy, numeracy and problem solving is clearly [positively] linked to their labour market outcomes.
• the evidence suggests that health issues and literacy issues intersect.
• The hidden problem Source : (Statistics Canada, 2003)

Kathy Cassidy’s Class

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1000000 sec
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16666 .66 min
60 sec
16666.66 min
60 min
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277.77
hrs
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277.77
hrs
24 hrs
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11.57
days
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1000000000 sec
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16666666 .66 min
60 sec
16666666 .66 min
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277777 .77
hrs
60 min
277777.77
hrs
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11574.07
days
24 hrs
11574.07
days
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31.71
years
365 days
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Gambling bites into family funds
VICTORIANS are using housekeeping money to finance an $89 million a week gambling habit …
The Herald Sun, Saturday, February 3, 1996, p.5

MEN who eat a lot of fish are driven by ambition and the desire for success, British researchers claim.
Seven in 10 men who frequently eat canned tuna.
sardines, salmon, mackerel or kippers admit to being ambitious, and one in two rate themselves as more successful than others.
The study, commissioned by John West Foods, reveals they are also thinskinned types, with only 5 per cent of regular fisheaters saying they coped well with criticism compared with a quarter of the non-fish eaters.
Source: The Mercury, 7 May, 1991.

Source: http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/resdocs/

How is numeracy addressed in the
BC Grades 8 to 12 mathematics curriculum?

An unusual incident …

Coffee anyone?

Ahhh …

1 Billion is Big …

Probability …

Definition: a self imposed tax on the innumerate.

• Pre-Cal 30S (Fall ‘06)
• Pre-Cal 40S (Fall ‘06)
• AP Calculus AB

Did You Know?

thanks