The Big Ideas in Number

At Hackham East Primary we strive to create a learning environment where both students and staff have and are supported to develop a ‘Growth Mindset’. We create learning environments to foster ‘life long’ learners where both students and staff understand that a key part of learning is making mistakes, being in the ‘Learning Pit’ and working through learning that is new, challenging and sometimes uncomfortable.

With our ongoing Site Improvement Plan in Mathematics, we focus on building student’s automaticity in the Big Ideas in Number. Throughout 2022 Staff have been becoming familiar with and are implementing the Big Ideas pertinent to their year level with the support of our Maths Mentor, Mrs Fiona Dealtry, one of our Year 4/5 teachers’.

Di Siemon, Chief Academic responsible for The Big Ideas in Number framework, suggests that the concepts of ‘trusting the count’, ‘place value’, ‘multiplicative thinking’, ‘partitioning’, ‘proportional reasoning’, and ‘generalising’ are the checkpoints in number sense each student is required to pass through before progressing further in mathematics.

The Big Ideas in Number are categorised into the following stages at a Junior Primary and Primary year level:

Trusting the Count is understanding that 2 is always 2, 5 is always 5 and not having to count through 1 to 1 correspondence. It is having deep number sense, understanding a given number in a variety of ways. For example, seven is 3 + 4, 1 less than 6, 2 more than 5.
Place Value is understanding that the placement of a digit in a numeral determines the value of that digit. For example, the 3 in 327 represents 300, whereas the 3 in 32 represents 30.
Multiplicative Thinking is understanding that two numbers multiplied can be represented in a variety of ways. For example 5 x 6 could be five groups of 6, 6 groups of 5, an array of 5 rows and 6 columns, a space which is 5 units long and 6 units wide.
Partitioning is the ability to divide objects into equal parts or fractions. Students who understand partitioning/division/fractions can work within groups to divide wholes into equal parts. The content areas progress from fractions to division to decimals and then percentages

The Big Ideas in Number provide stepping stones or stages for learning maths and allows students to build the foundations in mathematical concepts. Students need to understand the concepts at each stage before moving on to learning concepts at the next stage. Conceptual Understanding Numeracy involves students recognising and understanding the role of mathematics in the world.

Continual practise and revision of the Big Ideas in Number is how we will continue to build confidence in our children’s maths ability.

Our staff are committed to ongoing professional learning and a focus on assessing and teaching the ‘Big Ideas in Number.’ This will support our students to build solid foundations in the critical ‘Big Ideas in Number’ relevant to their year level and level of progression to build fluency, confidence and positive dispositions towards maths learning and problem solving.

Scott Megson

Deputy Principal