Mathematics

Prep–Year 10 Australian Curriculum Version 9.0

Learning area overview

220096
Learning goals
This presentation aims to:
• build understanding of the Australian Curriculum
Version 9.0: Mathematics
• provide an overview of the structure of the
Mathematics learning area.
Three-dimensional curriculum
The Australian Curriculum is a three-dimensional
curriculum made up of:
• learning areas
• general capabilities
• cross-curriculum
priorities.

ACARA image from Summary overview (video): https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/help/website-tour.

Structure of the Mathematics learning area
• Rationale
• Aims
• Key considerations
• Key connections
• Structure
− Year-by-year curriculum
− Achievement standards
− Curriculum content

Source: https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/teacher-resources/understand-this-learning-area/mathematics
Rationale
‘The study of mathematics is central to the learning,
development and prospects of all young Australians.
Mathematics provides students with essential
mathematical knowledge, skills, procedures and
processes in number, algebra, measurement, space,
statistics and probability. It develops the numeracy
capabilities that all students need in their personal,
work and civic lives, and provides the fundamentals
on which mathematical specialties and professional
applications of mathematics are built.’
Source: Quoted verbatim and unaltered from ACARA, https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/teacher-resources/understand-this-learning-area /mathematics.
Aims
Mathematics aims to ensure that students:
• become confident, proficient and effective users and communicators of
mathematics, who can investigate, represent and interpret situations in
their personal and work lives, think critically, and make choices as
active, engaged, numerate citizens
• develop proficiency with mathematical concepts, skills, procedures and
processes, and use them to demonstrate mastery in mathematics as
they pose and solve problems, and reason with number, algebra,
measurement, space, statistics and probability
• make connections between areas of mathematics and apply
mathematics to model situations in various fields and disciplines
• foster a positive disposition towards mathematics, recognising it as an
accessible and useful discipline to study
• acquire specialist mathematical knowledge and skills that underpin
numeracy development and lead to further study in mathematics and
other disciplines.
Source: Quoted verbatim and unaltered from ACARA, https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/teacher-resources/understand-this-learning-area /mathematics.
Key considerations
• Proficiency in mathematics
• Mathematical processes
• Computation, algorithms and the use of digital tools
in mathematics
• Protocols for engaging First Nations Australians
• Meeting the needs of diverse learners
Year-by-year curriculum
Each year includes the following
structural components:
• level description
• curriculum content
• achievement standard.

The curriculum is developmentally

sequenced across the year levels.
Level description
Year 1
In Year 1, learning in Mathematics builds on each student’s prior learning and experiences. Students engage in a
range of approaches to learning and doing mathematics that develop their understanding of and fluency with
concepts, procedures and processes by making connections, reasoning, problem-solving and practice. Proficiency
in mathematics enables students to respond to familiar and unfamiliar situations by employing mathematical
strategies to make informed decisions and solve problems efficiently.
Students further develop proficiency and positive dispositions towards mathematics and its use as they:
 use their curiosity and imagination to explore situations, recognise patterns in their environment and choose
ways of representing their thinking when communicating with others
 demonstrate that numbers can be represented, partitioned and composed in various ways, recognise patterns
in numbers and extend their knowledge of numbers beyond 2 digits
 use physical or virtual materials and diagrams when modelling practical problems through active learning
experiences, recognise existing patterns, employ different strategies and discuss the reasonableness of
answers
 explain ways of making direct and indirect comparisons and begin to use uniform, informal units to measure
some attributes
 reason spatially and use spatial features to classify shapes and objects; they recognise these shapes and
objects in their environment and use simple transformations, directions and pathways to move the positions of
shapes and objects within a space
 use simple surveys to collect and sort data, based on a question of interest, recognise that data can be
represented in different ways, and explain patterns that they see in the results
 develop a sense of equivalence, fairness, repetition and variability when they engage in play-based and
practical activities
Curriculum content
Year 7
Number
Content description Content elaborations
represent natural numbers as  applying knowledge of factors to strategies
products of powers of prime numbers for expressing natural numbers as products
of powers of prime factors, such as repeated
using exponent notation division by prime factors or creating factor
trees; for example,
AC9M7N02 48=6×8=2×3×2×2×2=3^1×2^4=3×2^4
 developing familiarity with the sequence 1, 2,
4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 and powers
of 2; the sequence 1, 3, 9, 27, 81, 243, 729
and powers of 3; and the sequence 1, 5, 25,
125, 625 and powers of 5
 solving problems involving lowest common
multiples and greatest common divisors
(highest common factors) for pairs of natural
numbers by comparing their prime
factorisation
Strands

Number Algebra

Measurement Space

Statistics Probability
Achievement standards
Year 10
By the end of Year 10, students recognise the effect of approximations of real numbers in repeated calculations.
They use mathematical modelling to solve problems involving growth and decay in financial and other applied

Number and Algebra

situations, applying linear, quadratic and exponential functions as appropriate, and solve related equations,
numerically and graphically. Students make and test conjectures involving functions and relations using digital
tools. They solve problems involving simultaneous linear equations and linear inequalities in 2 variables
graphically and justify solutions.
Students interpret and use logarithmic scales representing small or large quantities or change in applied contexts.
They solve measurement problems involving surface area and volume of composite objects. Students apply
Pythagoras’ theorem and trigonometry to solve practical problems involving right-angled triangles. They identify
Measurement and Space
the impact of measurement errors on the accuracy of results. Students use mathematical modelling to solve
practical problems involving proportion and scaling, evaluating and modifying models, and reporting assumptions,
methods and findings. They use deductive reasoning, theorems and algorithms to solve spatial problems.
Students interpret networks used to represent practical situations and describe connectedness.
They plan and conduct statistical investigations involving bivariate data. Students represent the distribution of data
involving 2 variables, using tables and scatter plots, and comment on possible association. They analyse

Statistics and Probability

inferences and conclusions in the media, noting potential sources of bias. Students compare the distribution of
continuous numerical data, using various displays, and discuss distributions in terms of centre, spread, shape and
outliers. They apply conditional probability to solve problems involving compound events. Students design and
conduct simulations involving conditional probability, using digital tools.
Key connections
Identify the connections with the other dimensions for
the Australian Curriculum including:
• the general capabilities
• the cross-curriculum priorities
• other learning areas within the Australian
Curriculum.
Three-dimensional curriculum:
General capabilities

Critical and creative thinking

Digital literacy
Ethical understanding
Intercultural understanding
Literacy
Numeracy
Personal and social capability
Three-dimensional curriculum:
Cross-curriculum priorities

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and

Cultures
Asia and Australia’s Engagement with Asia
Sustainability
Find out more
Find out more on the QCAA Australian Curriculum
webpage.
Acknowledgments
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