Numeracy in Digital Technologies

Embedding numeracy concepts (3 minutes)

A further exploration of using scratch to create a game based story which looks at the possibility of embedding Numeracy skills in the activity.

When Cartesian planes are introduced to the Year 2 students they 'get it' because it is in context and they need to understand it to create a successful gaming experience for the younger audience.

Activities that promote Digital Technologies concepts and incorporate Numeracy

Part 1: Introduction and overview

Accessing the Numeracy Progressions on the Australian Curriculum website

Activities that promote Digital Technologies concepts and incorporate Numeracy

Part 2: Learning from flowers

Number Patterns and algebraic thinking, Quantifying numbers and Interpreting and representing data – an early childhood example using flowers

* Quantifying numbers – counting with one to one correspondence

* Interpreting and representing data – data visualisation with picture graphs and a Venn diagram

* Curriculum links: Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies content descriptions and Numeracy Progressions

* Asking questions to cater for children’s natural curiosity and making sense of the data.

Activities that promote Digital Technologies concepts and incorporate Numeracy

Part 3: The Compass Rose

Positioning and locating – using a compass app and a visual programming tool (compass rose)

* Discussing familiar phenomenon and asking where the sun sets and rises.

* Using a compass rose app to find where the sun sets and determine where north is.

* Using geospatial systems (GIS) to determine your location

* Using a visual programming tool to create a compass rose activity

Beetle compass turn: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/403316045/

Beetle compass turn and move: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/316879731/

* Curriculum links: Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies content descriptions and Numeracy Progressions

* Using digital information systems to cater for children’s natural curiosity

* Using digital technologies across curriculum areas.

Activities that promote Digital Technologies concepts and incorporate Numeracy

Part 4: Tessellations

Understanding geometric properties – using Visual programming with apps and robotics to learn and understand polygons and angles

* Using visual programming to tessellate a square – (The example shown in the video is an example of a first attempt at programming which wasn’t an efficient example). Here is an example of the next iteration: tessellating square experiment: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/403327714/

* Using a sphero to investigate polygons. See the spherograph example on sphero edu: https://edu.sphero.com/cwists/preview/30728x

* Curriculum links: Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies content descriptions and Numeracy Progressions

* Debugging code and encouraging persistence

Activities that promote Digital Technologies concepts and incorporate Numeracy

Part 5: Data from sports

Understanding units of measurement and interpreting and representing data to estimate and predict distance, collect data, understand variables, look for patterns and learn about averages – an unplugged example using seedpods.

* Collecting data from physical sports activities

* Using arbitrary measurements

* Creative representations of data using a variety of data visualisations

* Curriculum links: Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies content descriptions and Numeracy Progressions

* Using different data to represent data for example, photos, text, charts

* Finding opportunities for cross curricular links including cross curriculum priorities.

Activities that promote Digital Technologies concepts and incorporate Numeracy

Part 6: Using literature as a springboard to numeracy and Digital Technologies

Technologies curriculum concepts –

· estimating pumpkin seeds: ‘How many seeds in a pumpkin?’

· visualising data with histograms from streamers used to measure circumference

· Representing numbers: ‘One is a Snail, Ten is a Crab’

· Resolve teaching resources resolve.edu.au

· DTiF classroom ideas: exploring patterns and data with bread tags and plastic lids

Questions and comments

Links to Science and biology classification

* Cross-curricular links

* Using a visual program (eg Scratch) to create a program of animals to combine to represent numbers. For example, 4 sheep with 4 legs + 3 birds with 2 legs = 22

* Cultural links – using cardinal points as points of reference

* Tessellation – Islamic Art and Victorian floor tiles

* Inquiry questions used as the springboard for digital solutions

Using the numeracy learning progressions to differentiate learning for students

In Conversation with Trudy Ward

Follow this link to hear the audio recording of Trudy sharing the wonderful things she is doing to incorporate literacy and numeracy with Digital Technologies. The video will be posted here in the coming weeks.

Trudy's Instagram page is here.