Selected excerpts from the NSW Board of Studies

Year 7-10 Syllabus course descriptions:

The paragraph below is taken from page 26 of the Years 7-10 Syllabus Course Descriptions.

What will students learn to do?

Students learn to ask questions in relation to mathematical situations and their mathematical experiences; develop, select and use a range of strategies, including the use of technology, to explore and solve problems; develop and use appropriate language and representations to communicate mathematical ideas; develop and use processes for exploring relationships, checking solutions and giving reasons to support their conclusions; and make connections with their existing knowledge and understanding and with the use of mathematics in the real world.

The paragraph below is taken from page 4 of the Mathematics, Year 7-10 Syllabus

The K–10 Curriculum

The framework also provides a set of broad learning outcomes that summarise the knowledge, skills and understanding, values and attitudes essential for all students to succeed in and beyond their schooling. These broad learning outcomes indicate that students will:

• understand, develop and communicate ideas and information
• access, analyse, evaluate and use information from a variety of sources
• work collaboratively with others to achieve individual and collective goals
• express themselves through creative activity and engage with the artistic, cultural and intellectual work of others
• understand and apply a variety of analytical and creative techniques to solve problems
• understand, interpret and apply concepts related to numerical and spatial patterns, structures and relationships
• be productive, creative and confident in the use of technology and understand the impact of technology on society

The paragraph below is taken from page 111 of the Mathematics Year 7-10 Syllabus

Data

In our contemporary society, there is a constant need for all people to understand, interpret and analyse information displayed in tabular or graphical forms. Students need to recognise how information may be displayed in a misleading manner resulting in false conclusions.

The Data strand extends from Early Stage 1 to Stage 5.2 and includes the collection, organisation, display and analysis of data. Early experiences are based on real-life contexts using concrete materials. This leads to data collection methods and the display of data in a variety of ways. Students are encouraged to ask questions relevant to their experiences and interests and to design ways of investigating their questions. Students should be aware of the extensive use of statistics in society. Print and Internet materials are useful sources of data that can be analysed and evaluated. Tools such as spreadsheets and other software packages may be used where appropriate to organise, display and analyse data.