Mathematics

Kalgoorlie-Boulder Community High School teachers use NAPLAN data, teacher judgement and diagnostic tasks to determine student capability. Learning programs are adjusted accordingly. In Year 10 there is a strong focus on preparing students for upper school, offering specialist Mathematics classes in term 4 to students who elect to do Year 11 specialist Mathematics courses.

The Mathematics program is based on the new Australian Curriculum. There are three content strands in the Australian Mathematics curriculum.

Numbers and algebra

In this content strand the concentration will be on number and algebra. Recent research has emphasized the connections between these. An algebraic perspective can enrich the teaching of numbers and the integration of numbers and algebra, especially representations of relationships, can give more meaning to the study of algebra in the upper secondary years. This combination incorporates pattern and/or structure and includes functions, sets and logic.

Measurement and geometry

While there are some aspects of geometry that have limited connection to measurement, and vice versa, there are also topics in both for which there is substantial overlap, including newer topics such as networks. In many curricula the term space is used to cover mathematical concepts of shape and location. Yet many aspects of location, for example maps, scales and bearings, are aligned with measurement, and the term geometry is more descriptive for the study of properties of shapes, and also gives prominence to logical definitions and justification.

Statistics and probability

Although students are familiar with the terms data and chance, statistics and probability more adequately describe the nature of the learning goals and types of student activity. For example, it is not enough to construct or summarize data — it is important to represent, interpret and analyze it. Likewise, probability communicates that this study is more than the chance that something will happen. The terms provide for the continuity of content to the end of the secondary years and acknowledge the increasing importance and emphasis of these areas at all levels of study.

Curriculum and Community