Numeracy

Numeracy is life skill. It is something going beyond doing ‘Doing sums’. It means having the confidence and the perfect competency to use numbers and think mathematically in our daily lives.

General opinion of people about numeracy:-

·         Well some people think and see numeracy as just basic foundation of mathematics to understand the further advance mathematics for example like quadratic equations, differentiation, Integration etc.

·         Some people see numeracy as a pure ability of  performing  simple mathematics  calculations  

·         Some say that it is a subset of wider mathematics.

Master definition for what is numeracy:-

 I choose the international description of mathematical literacy:

“Mathematical literacy is an individual’s capacity to identify and understand the role that mathematics plays in the world, to make well-founded judgments and to use and engage with mathematics in ways that meet the needs of that individual’s life as a constructive, concerned and reflective citizen”. (PISA)

What is basically mean by numeracy:-

Well simply is numeracy is being able to critically assessing the statistics used by advertisers for example we see daily on TV washing powder adds or beauty soaps add they all are chanting our product will make you fairer in 14 days or our washing powder will make all your clothes as bright as your imagination with just handful amount of our washing powder.

·         Being able to allocate and generally make-up your mind about your family budget how much for what and why?

·         Being able to judge the offers at supermarket.

·         Being able to estimate time, distance speed roughly.

·         Being able to roughly estimate how much bank balance will be remain in my bank account at the end of this month

Numeracy for children:-

We all now get a good idea about the numeracy and we are now very clear about that numeracy is a subset of further or advance mathematics and if a child have a good numeracy concept and clear concept in numeracy than further math’s problems or daily life problems will be much easier for him to solve his even Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR). And nationalnumeracy.org even proof through their study that if a person has good numeracy skills than he or she definitely has good decision making and problem solving skills.

How to build numeracy skills in Children:-

There are some basic techniques which can enhance the skills of numeracy of children. Parents should taught them while they are riding or walking like come straight towards me or like while driving we should tell them that now I am going to make a left turn and we will be home in just 5 minutes it will help them to learn how to create a rough idea about distance and speed & time and even enhance build up a good skills of directionality. mothers while making roti in kitchen or while sitting on dining table  can say something like look at the roti don’t you feel it is looking like a raindrop it will help them to imagine out of the box and get a good idea of shapes and they can compare things with one and another even siting in park parents can  play games like lets count the black and white car let’s see who’s going to win or tell me how many fingers do u have how many oranges in the basket all these kind of activities with children will help them to improve their numeracy skill which will be further be beneficiary in later ages.