ABSTRACT
The fortnight after the half term of the autumn term 2001, the second year of the new century, saw an interesting Orwellian phenomenon. We had each responded to cries for help from Crewe to London, from friends and family with Year 7 sons and daughters. The cause of the problem was algebra – seemingly being covered by Year 7 pupils throughout the land. We checked the planning sheets provided by the National Numeracy Strategy (NNS) Key Stage 3 Framework for Teaching Mathematics (DfEE, 2001) and, indeed, found algebra prescribed for the second half of the autumn term. Our brief survey revealed that many of the Year 7s had no notion of what this ‘algebra’ stuff is all about. ‘What is two more than x?’ we asked. Resoundingly, the favourite answer was z.
