Number Sense and Mental Computation: Implications for Numeracy

Numeracy in Australia, though not universally, is taken to cover more than number. For example, the National Numeracy Benchmarks have three strands: Number Sense, Measurement and Data Sense, and Spatial Sense. However, numeracy is generally agreed to incorporate two elements: flexible understanding and usability. The results of our research, which in this paper are confined to number, wholeheartedly support the importance of these two elements