Mathematics (Version 8.4)

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Rationale

Learning mathematics creates opportunities for and enriches the lives of all Australians. The Australian Curriculum: Mathematics provides students with essential mathematical skills and knowledge in number and algebra, measurement and geometry, and statistics and probability.

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Aims

The Australian Curriculum: Mathematics aims to ensure that students:

are confident, creative users and communicators of mathematics, able to investigate, represent and interpret situations in their personal and work lives and as active citizens.

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Key ideas

In Mathematics, the key ideas are the proficiency strands of understanding, fluency, problem-solving and reasoning. The proficiency strands describe the actions in which students can engage when learning and using the content.

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Structure

The Australian Curriculum: Mathematics is organised around the interaction of three content strands and four proficiency strands.
The content strands are number and algebra, measurement and geometry, and statistics and probability. They describe what is to be taught and learnt.

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PDF documents

Resources and support materials for the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics are available as PDF documents. 
Mathematics: Sequence of content
Mathematics: Sequence of achievement

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Glossary

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Year 4

Year 4 Level Description

The proficiency strands understanding, fluency, problem-solving and reasoning are an integral part of mathematics content across the three content strands: number and algebra, measurement and geometry, and statistics and probability. The proficiencies reinforce the significance of working mathematically within the content and describe how the content is explored or developed. They provide the language to build in the developmental aspects of the learning of mathematics. The achievement standards reflect the content and encompass the proficiencies.

At this year level:

  • understanding includes making connections between representations of numbers, partitioning and combining numbers flexibly, extending place value to decimals, using appropriate language to communicate times and describing properties of symmetrical shapes
  • fluency includes recalling multiplication tables, communicating sequences of simple fractions, using instruments to measure accurately, creating patterns with shapes and their transformations and collecting and recording data
  • problem-solving includes formulating, modelling and recording authentic situations involving operations, comparing large numbers with each other, comparing time durations and using properties of numbers to continue patterns
  • reasoning includes using generalising from number properties and results of calculations, deriving strategies for unfamiliar multiplication and division tasks, comparing angles, communicating information using graphical displays and evaluating the appropriateness of different displays.

Year 4 Content Descriptions

Chance

Describe possible everyday events and order their chances of occurring (ACMSP092 - Scootle )
Literacy

Composing texts through speaking, writing and creating
  • Compose texts
  • Compose spoken, written, visual and multimodal learning area texts

Word Knowledge
  • Understand learning area vocabulary

Numeracy

Interpreting statistical information
  • Interpret chance events

Critical and Creative Thinking

Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
  • Organise and process information
  • Identify and clarify information and ideas

  • using lists of events familiar to students and ordering them from ‘least likely’ to ‘most likely’ to occur
    Literacy

    Word Knowledge
    • Understand learning area vocabulary

    Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
    • Navigate, read and view learning area texts

    Composing texts through speaking, writing and creating
    • Compose spoken, written, visual and multimodal learning area texts

    Numeracy

    Interpreting statistical information
    • Interpret chance events

    Critical and Creative Thinking

    Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
    • Organise and process information
    • Identify and clarify information and ideas

Identify everyday events where one cannot happen if the other happens (ACMSP093 - Scootle )
Critical and Creative Thinking

Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
  • Identify and clarify information and ideas
  • Organise and process information

Numeracy

Interpreting statistical information
  • Interpret chance events

  • using examples such as weather, which cannot be dry and wet at the same time
    Literacy

    Word Knowledge
    • Understand learning area vocabulary

Identify events where the chance of one will not be affected by the occurrence of the other (ACMSP094 - Scootle )
Critical and Creative Thinking

Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
  • Organise and process information
  • Identify and clarify information and ideas

Numeracy

Interpreting statistical information
  • Interpret chance events

  • explaining why the probability of a new baby being either a boy or a girl does not depend on the sex of the previous baby
    Numeracy

    Interpreting statistical information
    • Interpret chance events

    Literacy

    Composing texts through speaking, writing and creating
    • Use language to interact with others
    • Compose spoken, written, visual and multimodal learning area texts

    Grammar knowledge
    • Use knowledge of sentence structures

    Word Knowledge
    • Understand learning area vocabulary

    Critical and Creative Thinking

    Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
    • Identify and clarify information and ideas
    • Organise and process information

Data representation and interpretation

Select and trial methods for data collection, including survey questions and recording sheets (ACMSP095 - Scootle )
Literacy

Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
  • Navigate, read and view learning area texts
  • Comprehend texts

Composing texts through speaking, writing and creating
  • Compose spoken, written, visual and multimodal learning area texts
  • Compose texts

Word Knowledge
  • Understand learning area vocabulary

Numeracy

Interpreting statistical information
  • Interpret data displays

Critical and Creative Thinking

Generating ideas, possibilities and actions
  • Consider alternatives

Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
  • Pose questions
  • Organise and process information
  • Identify and clarify information and ideas

  • comparing the effectiveness of different methods of collecting data
    Numeracy

    Interpreting statistical information
    • Interpret data displays

    Critical and Creative Thinking

    Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
    • Organise and process information
    • Identify and clarify information and ideas

  • choosing the most effective way to collect data for a given investigation
    Critical and Creative Thinking

    Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
    • Identify and clarify information and ideas

    Numeracy

    Interpreting statistical information
    • Interpret data displays

Construct suitable data displays, with and without the use of digital technologies, from given or collected data. Include tables, column graphs and picture graphs where one picture can represent many data values (ACMSP096 - Scootle )
Literacy

Composing texts through speaking, writing and creating
  • Compose spoken, written, visual and multimodal learning area texts
  • Compose texts

Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
  • Navigate, read and view learning area texts
  • Comprehend texts

Visual Knowledge
  • Understand how visual elements create meaning

Word Knowledge
  • Understand learning area vocabulary

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability

Creating with ICT
  • Generate solutions to challenges and learning area tasks

Investigating with ICT
  • Locate, generate and access data and information
  • Define and plan information searches

Numeracy

Interpreting statistical information
  • Interpret data displays

  • exploring ways of presenting data and showing the results of investigations
    Numeracy

    Interpreting statistical information
    • Interpret data displays

    Literacy

    Composing texts through speaking, writing and creating
    • Compose spoken, written, visual and multimodal learning area texts

    Word Knowledge
    • Understand learning area vocabulary

    Visual Knowledge
    • Understand how visual elements create meaning

    Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
    • Navigate, read and view learning area texts
    • Interpret and analyse learning area texts

    Critical and Creative Thinking

    Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
    • Organise and process information
    • Identify and clarify information and ideas

  • investigating data displays using many-to-one correspondence
    Literacy

    Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
    • Interpret and analyse learning area texts
    • Navigate, read and view learning area texts

    Word Knowledge
    • Understand learning area vocabulary

    Critical and Creative Thinking

    Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
    • Identify and clarify information and ideas
    • Organise and process information

    Numeracy

    Interpreting statistical information
    • Interpret data displays

Evaluate the effectiveness of different displays in illustrating data features including variability (ACMSP097 - Scootle )
Critical and Creative Thinking

Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
  • Organise and process information
  • Identify and clarify information and ideas

Reflecting on thinking and processes
  • Reflect on processes

Analysing, synthesising and evaluating reasoning and procedures
  • Evaluate procedures and outcomes

Numeracy

Interpreting statistical information
  • Interpret data displays

  • interpreting data representations in the media and other forums in which symbols represent more than one data value
    Literacy

    Visual Knowledge
    • Understand how visual elements create meaning

    Word Knowledge
    • Understand learning area vocabulary

    Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
    • Interpret and analyse learning area texts

    Critical and Creative Thinking

    Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
    • Organise and process information
    • Identify and clarify information and ideas

    Numeracy

    Interpreting statistical information
    • Interpret data displays

  • suggesting questions that can be answered by a given data display and using the display to answer questions
    Critical and Creative Thinking

    Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
    • Organise and process information
    • Identify and clarify information and ideas
    • Pose questions

    Literacy

    Word Knowledge
    • Understand learning area vocabulary

    Composing texts through speaking, writing and creating
    • Compose spoken, written, visual and multimodal learning area texts

    Visual Knowledge
    • Understand how visual elements create meaning

    Numeracy

    Interpreting statistical information
    • Interpret data displays


Year 4 Achievement Standards

By the end of Year 4, students choose appropriate strategies for calculations involving multiplication and division. They recognise common equivalent fractions in familiar contexts and make connections between fraction and decimal notations up to two decimal places. Students solve simple purchasing problems. They identify and explain strategies for finding unknown quantities in number sentences. They describe number patterns resulting from multiplication. Students compare areas of regular and irregular shapes using informal units. They solve problems involving time duration. They interpret information contained in maps. Students identify dependent and independent events. They describe different methods for data collection and representation, and evaluate their effectiveness.

Students use the properties of odd and even numbers. They recall multiplication facts to 10 x 10 and related division facts. Students locate familiar fractions on a number line. They continue number sequences involving multiples of single digit numbers. Students use scaled instruments to measure temperatures, lengths, shapes and objects. They convert between units of time. Students create symmetrical shapes and patterns. They classify angles in relation to a right angle. Students list the probabilities of everyday events. They construct data displays from given or collected data.


Year 4 Work Sample Portfolios