The Theta Mathematics package (NCEA Mathematics Level 2)

What's new?

The Theta Mathematics package

Theta Mathematics has been completely updated to reflect recent changes in the Mathematics in New Zealand Curriculum and reorganised to provide full coverage of the NCEA Mathematics Level 2 Achievement Standards.

A key change in NCEA is that there are now fourteen Achievement Standards instead of nine.  Most students would now be expected to enter only six or possibly seven of these in any given year.  Effectively students are only learning about half the Level 2 curriculum in a year-long course, and that means they can study topics in more depth, so resources need to be comprehensive and offer a wide spectrum of skills, challenges and interpretation-type problems.  How does this impact a textbook? 

The two-book choice we are offering is aimed at several groups of students:

  • Students planning to do Calculus in Year 13 need a rigorous course that provides the appropriate prerequisites.  Theta Mathematics is the best choice.
  • Students may be considering taking both Calculus and Statistics in Year 13.  The inclusion of some statistics in Theta Mathematics allows these students to keep their options open.  
  • Theta Dimensions provides full coverage of all the Level 2 Achievement Standards in Statistics.  If a student plans to take Level 3 Statistics this text provides the background knowledge.
  • Students taking an 'alternative' and less academically demanding course will be well served by the inclusion of internally assessed topics in Theta Dimensions.  Some of these, such as 'Networks' and 'Questionnaires' have been upgraded from the old Unit Standards offered to full Achievement Standard quality.

Click here to see the split of Achievement Standards between Theta Mathematics and Theta Dimensions.

Each text contains more than the six Achievement Standard limit that most students will enter for, so schools can be flexible when devising courses for students, without having an enormous text where they would use less than half.  Both texts are academically sound, and cater for students able to gain Achievement, Merit or Excellence.

The new third edition of Theta Mathematics retains a solid and comprehensive core of graded skill-based problems just like the second edition.  The content has been carefully revised and expanded to respond to changes in the curriculum and assessment and ‘best teaching practice’.  Among the mathematical changes are:

Theta Mathematics Theta Dimensions
 

 
  • A new section on function notation and domain and range (AS 2.2)
  • Piecewise functions are now included (AS 2.2)
  • Completing the square has been added to the Quadratic equations chapter (AS 2.6)
  • New material on graphs of derived functions (AS 2.7)
  • Risk and relative risk has been included (AS 2.12)
  • The section on networks (AS 2.5) is mainly new, with inclusion of shortest path, minimum spanning trees, and maximum flow.  The treatment has been upgraded from Unit Standard difficulty to full Achievement Standard quality.
  • Statistical inference from comparative data (AS 2.9) includes the new ‘comparative boxplot analysis’ approach developed by the award-winning University of Auckland Statistics Working Group  
  • All the statistics sections (AS 2.8 to 2.11) have been rewritten to reflect the Statistical Enquiry Cycle approach  
  • A completely new section on statistical experiments (AS 2.10)
  • A new section on interpreting statistical reports (AS 2.11)
  • The probability section in AS 2.12 has been strengthened with the addition of new material on risk and relative risk.

In developing this package Pearson also has one eye on the future − looking forward to a time where delivery of the curriculum and resources is electronic, with schools being able to select any combination of modules from the textbook package that meets their needs.  

Both texts feature plenty of new investigations – in the same style as other books in the series. These are both independent of, and related to, the coursework. Many of these investigations could be profitably used when preparing students for the internally assessed NCEA Achievement standards.

There are many mathematical puzzles included.  These will motivate students – some are quite challenging!

To order inspection copies of the new Theta Mathematics and Dimensions books email Pearson Education