Addressing maths gaps highlighted by Covid-19: podcast

The covid-19 pandemic has underlined a mathematical skills gap as many Australians were unable to correctly assess the health data presented in the media and were drawn to fake news. 

Many of the data and graphs used to explain the pandemic were new models and not part of mainstream schooling – and professor of mathematics education at the Australian Catholic University Vince Geiger said there is an opportunity for schools to update their program. 

“Being numerate is now more complicated and sophisticated than it used to be, and we do need to think about how this can be best exploited within schooling,” Geiger told Education Review.

He believes schools could tackle the mathematical skills gap by giving an opportunity to teachers to upskill their knowledge and by using “real” data sets with students to help them see the relevance of the topic and develop their understanding of big data while being critical. 

Geiger joined Education Review to discuss the mathematical issues exposed by the pandemic and how educators can bridge the gap.