Foundation Mathematics

Support Unit

Prerequisites

Year 7 Foundation is designed for students who have experienced difficulty in their study of mathematics in primary school. Enrolment in this course is based on the School's recommendation and only occurs after discussion with parents.​

Unit Description

The content and assessment tasks of Year 7 Mathematics are intentionally modified for Foundation students. This allows them time and space to focus on developing core concepts and experience success in their learning. It is possible for students of Foundation to re-enter mainstream Mathematics classes if their understanding of the course is of a sufficient standard.

The Foundation course follows the Victorian Curriculum. Using a variety of practical and concrete experiences, students develop concepts and skills in the use of positive and negative number manipulation, and order of operations. The introduction of formal algebra, together with number patterns and relationships, enables students to express problems mathematically. The use of probability to predict events is also studied.

Students explore and investigate geometry and its relationship to two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes; through hands-on activities. Students extend their use of algebra to the solving of algebraic equations for the first time. Students complete their studies of fractions commenced in primary school, as they learn to manipulate fractions and solve problems using the key operations. The student's knowledge and skills in decimals and percentages are further developed and then consolidated within the measurement unit, with a range of practical activities.

Assessment

• Topic tests.
• Collaborative tasks.
• Semester tests.