Abstract:

In this article we investigate mathematical literacy of high school students. We are interested in how they can cope with non-standard tasks of varying difficulty with a focus on addictions, relationships and working with data.

Mathematical literacy research conducted in 2021 by members of the Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Education, Palacký University showed that prospective teachers are interested in developing mathematical literacy of their future students and would welcome more background in selecting suitable non-standard tasks and sharing examples of teachers' good practice in developing mathematical literacy.

Objectives of this article are to reveal how some high school students can use their mathematical literacy and how they approach the solution of non-standard problems. Specifically, we are interested in the way students orient themselves in different types of graphs and diagrams, how they monitor key data and whether they come up with the correct answers for word problems.

Methodology was based upon the results of the 2021 mathematical literacy survey. We investigated how current students cope with solving practical examples. We selected a set of non-standard tasks with the topic of functional thinking and conducted case studies on how students solve this type of task. The focus of the study is on dependencies and working with graphs, which is applicable in daily life.

Results of the study reveal that observed students think that they are able in most cases to understand mathematical and statistical data which are an integral part of daily reports. The survey shows that students are not asked to solve non-standard tasks and such tasks are not commonly found in their textbooks.
Conclusions drawn were that tasks related to the daily life of a student and which reflect the time and their life situation are very attractive for students. Development of pupils' mathematical literacy would be supported by the integration of non-standard tasks into mathematics teaching. Teacher preparation at faculties would respond accordingly.

Keywords:

Mathematical literacy, non-standard tasks, functional thinking, case study.