Mathematics
In the PYP, mathematics is viewed primarily as a vehicle to support inquiry, providing a global language through which we make sense of the world around us. It is intended that students become competent users of the language of mathematics, and can begin to use it as a way of thinking, rather than seeing it as a series of facts and equations to be memorized.
How children learn mathematics
Pupils go through three stages when learning mathematics:
- Constructing meaning: Students construct meaning from direct experiences, including the use of manipulatives and conversation.
- Transferring meaning: Students connect the mathematical notation system with concrete objects and associated mathematical processes. The teacher provides the symbols for students. Students begin to describe their understanding using symbolic notation.
- Understanding and applying: Through authentic activities, students independently select and use appropriate symbolic notation to process and record their thinking. As they work through these stages, students and teachers use certain processes of mathematical reasoning.
Knowledge & Skills in Mathematics
The mathematics knowledge component in the PYP is arranged into five strands: data handling, measurement, shape and space, pattern and function and number.
In the number and pattern and function strands, students and teachers inquire into number systems and their operations, patterns and functions. They become fluent users of the language of mathematics as they learn to understand its meanings, symbols and conventions.
Data handling, measurement and shape and space are the areas of mathematics that other disciplines use to research, describe, represent and understand aspects of their domain. Mathematics provides the models, systems and processes for handling data, making and comparing measurements, and solving spatial problems. These three strands are, therefore, best studied in authentic contexts provided by the transdisciplinary units of inquiry.
In addition to transdisciplanary skills, the mathematics component of the curriculum also provides opportunities for students to:
- count, sort, match and compare objects, shapes and numbers
- recognize and continue patterns (and relationships)
- use mathematical vocabulary and symbols (including informal mathematics)
- develop and implement/trial strategies for investigating a range of mathematical questions or problems
- select and use appropriate mathematics (operations, computations and units) to solve numerical and word problems
- make reasonable estimates
- analyse, make predictions and infer from data
- become confident and competent users of ICT in mathematics learning.