Logarithms and Slide Rules – personally, I loved these in the maths class at school, though I had no idea what they were for. I’ve since learned that John Napier from Edinburgh invented logarithms in 1614 and the slide rule was the first analogue computer and there’s a connection to Higgs Boson….
Through a Global Citizenship approach to maths, young people can critically analyse the statistics they are exposed to in daily life.
Nowadays In Scotland though, learners should be able to “understand the application of mathematics, its impact on our society past and present, and its potential for the future”. (Curriculum for Excellence: numeracy and mathematics experiences and outcomes, 2010.) Many teachers are already helping young people to understand the practical relevance of numeracy and maths by bringing them to life with relevant real world contexts.
The inequality story
In early 2014 Oxfam found that the world’s 85 richest people were as wealthy as the poorest half of the world. By 2015 the number had fallen to 80 and now in 2016 new analysis shows that just 62 people own as much wealth as the poorest half of the world’s population.
What story about inequality do these statistics tell? Are the numbers reliable? Does everyone agree with these figures? How was the research carried out?
Through a Global Citizenship approach to maths, young people can critically analyse the statistics they are exposed to in daily life and develop their mathematical understanding, both in making sense of such data and by investigating its context and validity.
Maths and Global Citizenship
Using case studies and data to explore themes such as inequality and well-being, young people have an opportunity to understand the practical relevance of maths and numeracy in the world around them. Oxfam Education has a short guide Maths and Global Citizenship with practical ideas on teaching maths with a Global Citizenship approach.
Hans Rosling or ‘The man who makes statistics sing’ has a website with statistics at local, national and global levels and some amazing infographics and presentations. In the 4 minute video 200 countries, 200 years, 4 minutes, he takes us through 200 years of global development using data visualisation.
What story about inequality do statistics tell? Are the numbers reliable?
Young Lives
An International research project, Young Lives, followed the lives of 12,000 children in four different countries: Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam. Led by the University of Oxford, the research project looked at how poverty and inequality is affecting children’s lives. The team interviewed the children and their families over 15 years and collected a lot of data which Oxfam Education has used to develop a range of free classroom resources which support the teaching of maths and numeracy though Global Citizenship.
Everyone Counts for 8-12 year olds uses statistics and stories about children’s lives in India, Peru, Ethiopia and Vietnam. Children analyse data represented in different ways such as tables, line graphs, infographics, bar and pie charts, and use statistics and percentages to create representations of their own.
More or Less Equal? for 11-16 year olds provides opportunities for learners to develop a range of mathematical skills in using fractions, decimals and percentages, and in problem solving and data handling. It will help learners to analyse data and use statistics to create graphs and charts.
With separate sessions for different curriculum areas, including maths, this resource has been developed for use in both a subject-specific and cross-curricular way.
Everyone Counts ASN for learners with Additional Support Needs, contains six sessions to bring them into real-world mathematical learning and to help them think critically about how inequality and poverty affect the lives of children in different parts of the world.
The resource will help to develop learners’ mathematical skills in a range of areas including division, measuring time, comparing quantities and handling data.
The Olympics for 9-14 year olds, due in April 2016, contains activities for using percentages, scales and data handling to compare countries participating in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The resource helps to explore the links between a country’s income and its Olympic medal total and its participation in different Olympic sports.
Development Top Trumps Game - If you only have time to try one thing, try this game. It helps young people to think about why some countries are considered more “developed” than others…. and it is good fun to play!
