Teaching about tax in Year 8 Mathematics
Introduction
The Australian Curriculum v.9 for year 8 Mathematics now includes taxation as a context for applying mathematics to real-world situations. The new curriculum makes explicit reference to both the goods and services tax (GST) and income tax. Check out the resources we’ve curated to help you teach the curriculum and support your students solve problems related to their everyday lives.
Alignment of assessment to the achievement standard
The curated activities give you multiple opportunities to assess student achievement in relation to the following aspects of the Year 8 achievement standard:
- solve problems involving the 4 operations with integers and positive rational numbers.1
- use mathematical modelling to solve practical problems involving ratios, percentages and rates in measurement and financial contexts.2
- use mathematical modelling to solve problems using linear relations, interpreting and reviewing the model in context.3
Each of the investigations in the table below require students to use mathematical modelling to solve real-world problems. You can also use worksheets included in the associated activity to assess students’ progress and development of fluency and problem solving.
List of assessments and alignment to the standard
|
Assessment opportunities |
Numbered aspect of the achievement standard |
|---|---|
|
Impact of GST |
1, 2 |
|
Impact of income tax |
1, 2 |
| How will changes to GST impact on your family? | 2 |
| Changes to the income tax system | 2, 3 |
Content descriptions
The curated activities enable students to make connections between areas of mathematics (number and measurement) and apply mathematics to model real-world situations. The focus of curated activities is on teaching students to:
- use the 4 operations with integers and with rational numbers, choosing and using efficient strategies and digital tools where appropriate (AC9M8N04)
- use mathematical modelling to solve practical problems involving rational numbers and percentages, including financial contexts; formulate problems, choosing efficient calculation strategies and using digital tools where appropriate; interpret and communicte solutions in terms of the situation, reviewing the appropriateness of the model (AC9M8N05)
- recognise and use rates to solve problems involving the comparison of 2 related quantities of different units of measure (AC9M8M05)
- use mathematical modelling to solve practical problems involving ratios and rates, including financial contexts; formulate problems; interpret and communicate solutions in terms of the situation, reviewing the appropriateness of the model. (AC9M8M07)
Check out the suggested sequence of activities that you can use in your classroom to teach mathematical modelling in the context of taxation.