NUMERACY AND

HEURISTICS APPROACH
Prepared by:
Khairun Nisak Binti Samsudin
Nurul Atikah Binti Kamaludin
Nur Izzati Binti Mat Zin
PISMP 2.05
 NUMERACY
• Numeracy is the ability to reason with numbers
and other mathematical concepts.
• To be numerically literate, a person has to be
comfortable with logic and reasoning.
• Some of the areas that are involved in numeracy
include basic numbers, orders of magnitude,
geometry, algebra, probability and statistics.
• In the United States numeracy is also known as
quantitative literacy.
• Proficiency which is developed mainly in
mathematics, but also in other subjects.
• It involves developing confidence and
competence with numbers and measures.
• Numeracy also demands understanding of
the ways in which data are gathered by
counting and measuring, and presented in
graphs, diagrams, charts and tables.

(Department for Education and Skills, UK )

• Concerned with using, communicating and making
sense of mathematics in a range of everyday
applications, the ability to explore, hypothesis and
reason logically and to use a variety of methods to
solve problems.  

(Booker,G., Bond,D., Buggs,J., and Davey, G., (1997) Teaching

Primary Mathematics. Addison Wesley Longman Aust Pty
Ltd:Melb)
 Mastery of the basic symbols
and process of arimethic
Subtractio
Numbers Addition
n

Simple Simple Simple weight

multiplication division & measures

Telling
Money time
 Relate numeracy to
National Mathematics Curriculum.
• Numeracy is a fundamental component of learning,
performance, discourse and critique across all areas
 of Underpinning
the curriculum.mathematical
It involves theconcepts
disposition
andtoskills
use,
in context,
from a combination
across the of:
discipline (numerical, spatial,
graphical, statistical and algebraic)
 Mathematical thinking and strategies
 General thinking skills
 Grounded appreciation of context
The national mathematics curriculum will be
the basic of planning teaching and assessment
of school mathematics, and be useful for, and
usable by, experienced and less experienced
teachers.

Mathematics holds a central place in school

curriculums not only because it is fundamental
to the education of student, but also because it
is central to the development of our society
and our global competitiveness
 Ways to Help Students Acquire This Proficiency
Encourage your
Provide v ariety
Estimating- youstudent
can - to
and
Talk
count about time
items – could be items
Encourage
estimate
interesting
Provide
Estimating-
vareyour
many student
mathematical
ariety things to
with
Talk
looking
in
count about
school
items
teaching
your studentsat–you
tools and
suchand
can
time
could
such be -how
astalking
teacher’s
as items
interesting
estimate
cars, many
counting mathematical
things
people indice,
with
front
looking
in school
about
multiple
many
of you marbles
teaching
your
atsuch
are
in the
cards.
atools
students
and
queue.
such
talking
in aasjar.
clock teacher’s
asinhow
dice,
cars, counting people front
about
multiple
many
of in the
you marbles
cards.
a queue.clock
in a jar.

Pl
a
yi
n
g
m
a
t
h
e
m
a
ti
cs
g
a
m
e
s.
 HEURISTICS APPROACH

• “Heuriskein” (pronounced in Greek) meaning

"to discover” pertains to the process of
gaining knowledge or some desired result by
intelligent guesswork rather than by following
some preestablished formula. (Heuristic can
be contrasted with algorithm ic.)
• The term seems to have two usages:
 Describing an approach to learning
by trying without necessarily having
an organized hypothesis or way of
proving that the results proved or
disproved the hypothesis. That is,
"seat-of-the-pants" or "trial-by-
error" learning.
Pertaining to the use of the general
knowledge gained by experience,
sometimes expressed as "using a
rule-of-thumb." (Also can be applied
to complex as well as simple
everyday problems. Human chess
players use a heuristic approach.)
• An adjective for experience-based techniques
that help in problem solving, learning and
discovery.
• A heuristic method is used to come to a
solution rapidly that is hoped to be close to the
best possible answer, or 'optimal solution'.
• A heuristic is a "rule of thumb", an educated
guess, an intuitive judgment or simply common
sense.
• A heuristic is a general way of solving a
problem. Heuristics as a noun is another name
for heuristic methods.
• In more precise terms, heuristics stand for
strategies using readily accessible, though
loosely applicable, information to
control problem solving in human beings and
machines
• As a noun, a heuristic is a specific rule-of-
thumb or argument derived from experience.
The application of heuristic knowledge to a
problem is sometimes known as heuristics.
!
It may be argued that the
most fundamental
heuristic is trial and error,
which can be used in
everything from matching
bolts to bicycles to finding
the values of variables in
algebra problems.
Here are a few other commonly used heuristics, from
Polya's 1945 book, How to Solve It
Problem Methods
Difficulty understanding a Drawing a picture
problem
Can’t find a solution Try assuming that you have a
solution and seeing what you can
derive from that (working
backward)
Problem is abstract Try examining a concrete example
Rty solving more general problem More ambitious plan may have more
first chances of success