Resources for Teaching and Learning for Mathematcal Literacy

Some people love mathematics for its own sake, or depend on it for their work in science, technology, engineering, high finance or the exciting field of professional flagpole-height checking.

For many people, though, the mathematics they were taught in school seems irrelevant to their daily life: a hurdle they had to jump through to get the qualification they needed and could happily forget once the exam was over. Little wonder they find the subject dull or baffling, and hence difficult to learn.

Mathematical Literacy - at least the sort we are discussing here - is about not just knowing how to do mathematics, but actually being able to use it as a practical tool in the world of work, leisure, money and politics, even if “work” is not quantum rocket surgery. Mathematical Literacy doesn't just mean basic arithmetic – although there is plenty to talk about there – it can apply to using algebra, spreadsheets or even calculus to model your finances, seeing through the statistical smokescreens used by advertisers and politicians or even better understanding logical reasoning.

Mathematical Litereacy isn't a new subject to add to the crowded school timetable, it isn't something to be taught instead of traditional mathematics - the mathematics used is the same. Think of it as an important vitamin often missing from the typical school mathematics diet. The resources suggested on this site aim to provide a “vitamin supplement” to satisfy that.