Cross Curricular Numeracy. How and why should numeracy be cross curricular?





Children should be made aware of the importance maths has on other subjects within the curriculum and how it is not just a subject taught on its own it is embedded into others within the curriculum and is extremely beneficial. Cross curricular offers a unique way to teach and enhance children’s knowledge and understanding, whilst encouraging them to learn through interesting topics. Maths is used every day, within the curriculum and outside of the curriculum, the skills that are developed in maths can be portrayed in other subjects. In this blog I will discuss the reasons why numeracy should be embedded into other subjects across the curriculum and how this enhances a child’s learning. Numeracy is integrated into the whole curriculum and not just in ‘mathematics’ teaching (Learning Wales, 2016).


A previously stated it is evident that not every child enjoys or understands maths and find it a difficult subject to attack, therefore taking a cross-curricular approach may help many individuals overcome this. This provides the students with the ability to use information they have learnt and apply it to another subject, repeating and reflecting upon the information they have learnt will improve their knowledge and support them in areas where they are struggling. Through researching the cross curriculum, I came across a project that had been conducted by Andrew Price of children learning through cross curriculum subjects, there were various benefits identified in the outcome and these include the following:



·         There was an improvement in the quality of numerous areas of pupil learning, including questioning, self and group reflection, sharing ideas, consensus and awareness of task requirements.

·         Many students became increasingly aware of the thinking skills that they were using throughout the subjects, and a few became confident at transferring their use into different contexts.

·         There was an overall rise in confidence amongst the students tackling tasks, making suggestions and criticising assumptions.

(Price, A. 2010)



There are various other benefits that arise when children learn through cross-curricular subjects and a few of these consist of:



·         Pupils that may find it challenging understanding maths may benefit from using it within other cross-curricular subjects, through completing the work by a visual experience.

·         Two subjects can come together at any time as long as they are following the curriculum and children are able to understand both foundations of the subjects.

·         Teachers may find that some children are underperforming within a particular subject and identify a subject they are succeeding in and embed these two together to allow imply their ability to the weaker area, for example bringing elements of maths into science.



I came across Kensington Community Primary Schools Website that state “Maths impacts on every subject and on our everyday life. Maths helps us in a variety of ways and we have used these skills to support our learning in other subjects in school” (Kensington Community Primary School, n.d.). This is an example of how they taught their year 2’s science through maths Year 2 have been investigated the forces around us, including the role of friction. The children participated in a range of activities where the amount of friction was changed, and it impacted on the distance that they travelled. It was great fun and it was clear to say the more friction you have, the shorter the distance you will travel. This demonstrates how they combined both maths and science together without any complication. The children within this school are able to develop various skills and their knowledge within certain subjects and use their ability to apply them to others. They were able to develop both their science knowledge and maths skill through figuring out the equation that relates to how science works.



Donaldson (2015) implies that children and young people need regular opportunities to deepen their understanding of number and, as with literacy, to reinforce and use their numeracy skills in different contexts (Donaldson, 2015, p.40). Donaldson’s review exaggerates how numeracy should be a cross curricular subject within the areas of learn in the new curriculum because of how often it is used within other subjects and the opportunities it has to develop. He expands on how numeracy skills are essential for current and late life and how it would enable children to develop their knowledge in numeracy and financial skills which will be applied to real life situations outside of the curriculum. It develops many skills that are not only essential for today and inside the curriculum, but it benefits them later on in life and outside of school.

There are four main purposes explained by Donaldson (2015) that will be part of the new curriculum and these state that children and young people will be “ambitious, capable learners”, “enterprising, creative contributors”, “ethical, informed citizens”, “healthy, confident individuals” and “are ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society” (Donaldson, 2015, p. 29-30). He delivers examples on how children and young people’s numeracy skills can contribute towards the four main purposes and these are as follows:



·         Ambitious, capable learners is “having the knowledge and competence to apply numeracy skills and mathematical understanding confidently in a wide range of contexts, notably in science, computer science and technologies; gaining a sense of achievement by solving tricky mathematical puzzles and problems.”

·         Enterprising, creative contributors is “solving numerical and mathematical problems; applying numerical, mathematical and digital skills to creative and design challenges, working individually and in groups.”

·         Ethical, informed citizens is “critically analysing data to form informed views on social, political, economic and environmental matters.”

·         Healthy, confident individuals is “gaining the knowledge and skills to manage personal finance now and, in the future, interpreting information data to assess risk.”



The four purposes demonstrate the significance numeracy will have on them as it offers many opportunities through making individuals better learners through developing various, essential skills that can be used regularly to solve problems, form solutions or to imply knowledge.  

There is a link to a video below that defines what cross curriculum is, the importance it has and the positives.












References

Kensington Community Primary School. (n.d.). Online at: http://www.kensingtonprimary.co.uk/english-3/ (Accessed 20/04/2019).


Price, A. (2010) What are the Benefits for Teaching and Learning of Cross-curricular Work using Thinking Skills, Techniques and Language? Online at: http://www.curee.co.uk/files/RMHolyRosary/Resources/What_are_the_benefits_for_teaching_and_learning_of_cross_curricular_work.pdf (Accessed 05/04/2019).

Donaldson, G. (2015) Successful Futures, Independent Review of Curriculum and Assessment Arrangements in Wales. OGL.

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