A project upon which we spent a lot of time was listing all the “awful” lines in the new mathematics Curriculum. Readers have not paid much attention, but that’s understandable, and readers were not really the point. Compiling the list has given us a clearer sense of the absurd nature of the Curriculum, the list has been and will be the basis for more specific posts, and the list is there ready for the future: next year, when the Curriculum kicks in and people start to realise just how bad it is, we’ll be ready with the “We told you so”. Continue reading “New Cur 13: A Probable Grand Slam”
Tag: ACARA
New Cur 12: A Futile Quad Wrangle
This one comes courtesy of commenter jono, who pointed out the absence of quadrilaterals in the f-6 part of the new Curriculum. jono noted that the terms “rhombus” and “kite” and “parallelogram” and Trapezium” are not once mentioned, and that the single mention of “quadrilateral” is in a Year 1 Space elaboration:
New Cur 11: Circling Reason
Just for a change, this post will be about a good aspect of new Curriculum. Just kidding. Sort of.
The following is an elaboration and associated content descriptor from Year 8 Measurement:
solve problems involving the circumference and area of a circle using formulas and appropriate units (AC9M8M03)
deducing that the area of a circle is between 2 radius squares and 4 radius squares, and using 3 × radius2 as a rough estimate for the area of a circle
There are two ways one might react to this elaboration. First, one might justifiably have no idea what is the meaning or intent of the elaboration, and then conclude that the curriculum was written by idiots. Or, one could recognise that the elaboration is at least attempting something good but that the attempt was an abject failure, and then conclude that the curriculum was written by idiots. All roads lead to Rome.
New Cur 10: Positively Disposing of Mastery
This post will be about the new Curriculum, of course, but first a bit about the draft curriculum that preceded it.
In August last year, there was a Zoom meeting between representatives of ACARA and AMSI (and of member organisations) to discuss the draft mathematics curriculum, a delayed response to AMSI’s submission calling for a halt of ACARA’s curriculum review. ACARA was under political pressure to consult with mathematicians, but the meeting was a farce. ACARA’s first and foremost concern was to defend their draft curriculum. ACARA did not want to listen.
Continue reading “New Cur 10: Positively Disposing of Mastery”
New Cur 9: Less Than Optimal
The following is a selection of elaborations, and parent content descriptors, with a common theme.
New Cur 8: Repeated Probability
The following is a sequence of content descriptions in the Probability stream (which begins in Year 3).
New Cur 7: Logjam
This is the sum total of the approved curriculum‘s coverage of logarithms: Continue reading “New Cur 7: Logjam”
New Cur 6: Necessity is the Mother of Convention
ACARA’s draft mathematics curriculum contained the following elaboration from Year 8 Number:
using expressions such as 
, and 
to illustrate the convention that for any natural number 𝑛, 
, for example, 
(old AC9M8N02)
This has been changed for the approved curriculum:
using examples such as 
, and 
to illustrate the necessity that for any non-zero natural number 𝑛, 
(new AC9M8N02)
Give ’em another few years and ACARA just might land upon proper wording. And the proper use of commas. And brackets. And logic.
Continue reading “New Cur 6: Necessity is the Mother of Convention”
New Cur 5: Non-Reoccuring Decimals
Last year, we held a competition: What Are the Arguments FOR the Draft Mathematics Curriculum. The winner was officially no one, partly because everyone was too cynical to take the competition seriously, and partly because everyone’s cynicism was very largely justified. Still, we decided to declare John Friend the winner, for his suggestion in a different competition. John’s suggestion was an elaboration from Year 8 Number:
investigating the use of pronumerals to represent recurring decimals as their equivalent fractions, for example, let 
then 
and 
therefore 
and 9x = 7 so 
(old AC9M8N03)
This elaboration has been removed for the approved curriculum.
New Cur 4: Golden Moments
ACARA’s draft mathematics curriculum contained innumerable head-slappers, including the following content and elaboration from Year 8 Number (which we posted upon here):
recognise and investigate irrational numbers in applied contexts including certain square roots and π (old AC9M8N01)
investigate the Golden ratio as applied to art, flowers (seeds) and architecture
That has changed. In its stead, ACARA’s approved Curriculum has
Continue reading “New Cur 4: Golden Moments”