Mental Maths

Mental Maths = Minimal Effort

Mental maths allows you to calculate sums without mental effort. The average human can only store 5 to 9 items in short term memory. When you know that six eights are forty eight off by heart, you can retrieve this from long term memory without using one of your 5 to 9 short term memory items. Drawing from long term memory means you have short term storage left to hold information about the current problem you are trying to solve.

Why do you mix up x ÷ + and - with your exercises? This is a process call interleaved practice. Because your brain has to flip from one operation to another, you are constantly retrieving and encoding memories, thus strengthening you neural connections to that information.

How does this fit the WA Curriculum?

• Year 2 WA Curriculum > Mathematics > Number and Algebra: (Stage 1)
  • Investigate number sequences, initially those increasing and decreasing by twos, threes, fives and tens from any starting point, then moving to other sequences (ACMNA026)
  • Solve simple addition and subtraction problems using a range of efficient mental and written strategies (ACMNA030)

• Year 3 WA Curriculum > Mathematics > Number and Algebra: (Stage 1)
  • Recall addition facts for single-digit numbers and related subtraction facts to develop increasingly efficient mental strategies for computation (ACMNA055)
  • Recall multiplication facts of two, three, five and ten and related division facts (ACMNA056)
  • Represent and solve problems involving multiplication using efficient mental and written strategies and appropriate digital technologies (ACMNA057)

• Year 4 WA Curriculum > Mathematics > Number and Algebra: (Stage 1 and 2)
  • Recall multiplication facts up to 10 × 10 and related division facts (ACMNA075)
  • Develop efficient mental and written strategies and use appropriate digital technologies for multiplication and for division where there is no remainder (ACMNA076)

• Year 5 WA Curriculum > Mathematics > Number and Algebra: (Stage 1, 2 and 3)
  • Identify and describe factors and multiples of whole numbers and use them to solve problems (ACMNA098)
  • Solve problems involving multiplication of large numbers by one- or two-digit numbers using efficient mental, written strategies and appropriate digital technologies (ACMNA100)
  • Use efficient mental and written strategies and apply appropriate digital technologies to solve problems (ACMNA291)

• Year 6 WA Curriculum > Mathematics > Number and Algebra: (Stage 1, 2 and 3)
  • Select and apply efficient mental and written strategies and appropriate digital technologies to solve problems involving all four operations with whole numbers (ACMNA123)
  • Develop efficient mental and written strategies and use appropriate digital technologies for multiplication and for division where there is no remainder (ACMNA076)

• Year 7 WA Curriculum > Mathematics > Number and Algebra: (Stage 1, 2 and 3)
  • Apply the associative, commutative and distributive laws to aid mental and written computation (ACMNA151)

• Year 8 WA Curriculum > Mathematics > Number and Algebra: (Stage 1, 2 and 3)
  • Carry out the four operations with rational numbers and integers, using efficient mental and written strategies and appropriate digital technologies (ACMNA183)