Numicon Mathematics Programme
Auckland - Catherine@edushop.nz
Numicon is a wonderful approach to further help children understand more about what maths is. It is a great way to develop number sense and place value, basic facts, fractions, decimals, and percentages. A full programme comes with equipment and teaching resources, such as planning, progressions and assessment in line with NZC. However, I would be happy to start with the equipment and teaching year level book as I think this would be a great introduction. The equipment is tactile and would greatly benefit students' mathematical thinking, helping them move from concrete visual/manipulative to more problem solving, abstract thinking.
By using this as a number line, the relationship and pattern is obvious. How does the pattern continue?….this relationship shows increasing pattern - add one, +1, What if we kept going?
By manipulating the patterns....we can make a generalisation, a good opportunity for oral language and discussion.
What do you notice? ….the ‘bits’ sticking out…..we have pulled out odd ones, the cool colours are all even, all the difference is two. There is so much to notice, this involves children in the inquiry and discovery process.
What do you notice? When we put odd nos together we have made an even number.
What happens when we put 3 odd nos together?
What is the pattern?
What is our prediction?
Children can learn and explore like mathematicians. They can count, or observe to look and see and manipulate to check what the answer is. This is a fast track into addition by not merely relying on counting.
5 take away 3 - Numicon pegs to manipulate and check and add/take away
Throw down 5 times 3….then place together to toal and cover with a 10s frame
Numicon equipment makes it easy to see strong links to addition/ subtraction and to multiplication/division all inverse operations.
Numicon also uses cuisenaire rods - tactile learning, visualise patterns
Discovery and inquiry based learning makes children curious, leads to problem solving, improves language and promotes mathematical concept driven discussions.
The full programme has resources, work book for the class level, a targeted intervention programme, catch up programmes, online subscription...however I think that the numicon equipment and following a class year level programme would be sufficient. I can also see the benefits that small intervention programmes would be able to offer students in a small group ALiM type approach.
