Student Learning Numeracy Survey

416

student responses across grades

83%

can give examples of numeracy in at least two different subjects

75%

agree they can interpret graphs, charts, or tables in class

49%

agree their teachers help them see how numeracy connects to each subject — 38% are neutral

Where students say they use numeracy

“How often do you use numeracy skills like measuring, comparing, interpreting data, and estimating in the following subjects?” — sorted by Often + Very often.

Reading the data: 77% report using numeracy often or very often in Mathematics. In every other subject area, fewer than half of students do — and in Language Acquisition, Arts, and PHE, roughly 4 in 10 students say rarely or never.

Numeracy confidence & skills

Students are most confident reading graphs and spotting patterns; the lowest-agreement statement is about teachers making numeracy connections visible.

“I can explain how I reached an answer”

This question used a different scale (Always / Often / Yes / Sometimes / No); shown with its original labels.

“I can give examples of numeracy in at least two different subjects.”
340 of 412 students said Yes; 72 said Not Yet.

In their own words

Nearly 400 students answered each open-ended question. Responses were grouped by theme; one response can mention several themes. Bars show the number of responses mentioning each theme.

Where they've used numeracy outside math

401 responses · subject areas mentioned

What helps them feel confident

391 responses · supports mentioned

What teachers could do to make connections clearer

384 responses · suggestions mentioned

In foods, we have to measure ingredients. There is a lot of numeracy in foods because sometimes you have to adjust the recipe or measure in a different way.
Where students use numeracy

I had to use my numeracy skills in woodworking (ADST) while making a design prototype. I had to measure and cut out identical pieces for the build.
Where students use numeracy

I used numeracy in English 10, when we had to survey and analyze the responses on a Google Forms response.
Where students use numeracy

I feel more confident when I see examples first and then practice similar questions. Step-by-step explanations and checking my work also helps.
What builds confidence

I feel more confident with numbers when I take my time, break problems into steps, and double-check my work.
What builds confidence

Working with peers often helps me understand things or subjects better.
What builds confidence

Teachers could show more real-life examples and explain how math is used in other subjects like science and social studies.
What teachers could do

Point out the similarities to math and how there’s a correlation.
What teachers could do

Explain it more — they don’t explain much of numeracy connections in non-math classes.
What teachers could do

Diploma Programme snapshot

Three DP-focused questions were answered by roughly 90 students. These were free-text questions, so answers were coded into categories; a number of respondents were not in the DP (or skipped), which is shown honestly below.

How often do you evaluate the validity of data or claims using numeracy?

How confident are you using numeracy to support arguments in IA, EE, or TOK?

Of 85 students who answered “Provide an example of numeracy used in your IA, EE, or TOK,” 46 described a concrete example — most often collecting data, calculating averages and uncertainties, and graphing trends in science and math IAs. The rest answered “don’t know,” were not in the DP, or skipped.

We use numeracy to calculate percent uncertainty and percentage errors from other scientific literature.
DP Sciences

For my practice math IA, I compared a real-life picture of a hanging chain to a quadratic graph. I plotted points to create a parabola based on the image, then analyzed its accuracy.
Math IA

I calculated the concentration of medicine in blood as time goes by. I made connections between math and biology.
Math IA

My TOK Exhibition was based on Rubik’s Cubes and the math behind it.
TOK