1. NZ Maths
  2. Supporting professional practice
  3. Accelerating learning
  4. ALiM resources
  5. Resource H

H: Learning to use decimals to solve problems

Thanks for visiting NZMaths.
We are preparing to close this site by the end of August 2024. Maths content is still being migrated onto Tāhūrangi, and we will be progressively making enhancements to Tāhūrangi to improve the findability and presentation of content.
 

For more information visit https://tahurangi.education.govt.nz/updates-to-nzmaths

 

Target group: Students in years 6–8

Focusing on:

  • representing decimals on a number line
  • understanding the effect that operations have on decimals
  • using decimal numbers to solve problems.

 

Teacher observation over a range of activities

The student has strategies for working with whole numbers and a sound knowledge of place value for whole numbers, with a fast and fluent recall of basic facts. They may struggle when working with decimal amounts, either ignoring them or treating them as whole numbers. The student may have difficulty converting simple decimals into fractions and vice versa.

Possible barriers to the student’s progress

  1. Difficulty placing decimals on a number line
  2. Weak understanding of decimal place value
  3. Difficulty multiplying decimals

Click to download as a PDF (1.2MB).