1. Discuss five factors that may affect number skills development.
The first factor that may affect number skills development is national and community factors. A country and community’s political, cultural, social and economic policies all contribute to the environment in which children develop.
The second factor is home factors. Certain characteristics in a home can create a climate that encourages children to experiment and explore number skills such as, activities fostering numeracy, economic social and cultural resources, home-school connection and student’s out of school numeracy. Throughout a child’s development, the involvement of parents or caregivers remains central to the acquisition of number skills.
The third factor is school factors. For most children school remains the main environment for formal learning. Many factors in school affect number skills acquisition, directly or indirectly these could be the school policies and curriculum or the school environment and resources.
The fourth factor is classroom factors. Even though the curricular policies and resources of the school often set the tone for accomplishment in the classroom, students’ day to day classroom activities are likely to have a more direct impact on their number skills development than the school environment. The teacher is very influential in the classroom environment. This can include his or her preparation and training, use of particular instructional approaches, and experience in teaching reading. The behaviours, attitudes and numeracy level of classmates may influence the teacher’s instructional choices, thereby affecting a student’s number skills development.
The fifth factor is personal factors. There are a number of skills that pupils need to function in the classroom: literacy skills, numeracy skills, organisation, memory and comprehension. Learning is a social process. Pupils can...