Cooking with numbers
About this module
This module has been developed to support students working towards the Achievement Standards for Year 3 and 4 in the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics.
- Students represent unit fractions and their multiples in different ways.
- They make estimates and determine the reasonableness of financial and other calculations.
- Students use their understanding of place value to represent tenths and hundredths in decimal form and to multiply natural numbers by multiples of 10.
- Students use their proficiency with addition and multiplication facts to add and subtract, multiply and divide numbers efficiently.
- They recognise equivalent fractions and make connections between fraction and decimal notations.
- Students count and represent fractions on a number line.
- They use scaled instruments and appropriate units to measure length, mass, capacity and temperature.
Using the framework of cooking and food, this resource uses objects in the National Library’s collection as fun examples of maths in everyday life. The activities aim to promote positivity towards mathematics and its use, as well as highlight the usefulness of maths in solving practical problems.
Copyright for teachers
You can download all collection materials in this resource for education purposes. For more information, go to copyright for teachers.
Topics in this module
This module covers 4 key topics.
Each topic includes an introduction to key concepts, links to key resources in our collection and a series of learning activities that cater for a variety of classroom contexts.
William H Lee, N T Oliver & C Van Zandt, Lee's priceless recipes : the standard collection of famous formulas and simple methods (detail), 1912, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2334677540
Robert Deane, Retort line cooking tins of pie apple. Mountain Maid Pty., Ltd., Batlow, New South Wales, 1997, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-143408852
Simpson Bros, The Secret of successful baking (detail), 1939, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3070534781
Ern McQuillan & Mike McQuillan, Waltons city department store employee being trained for the introduction of decimal currency, Sydney, 17 January, 1966, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-138111466
Introductory activities
The reality for many students is that they will likely use a little bit of maths every day for the rest of their lives. Many of the ways we use maths are so ingrained that, by adulthood, we will no longer think of them as mathematical practices. For example, telling time. In Years 3 and 4 we are starting to become familiar with units of time and how to read time telling devices, but by the time we are in high school we will have become so good at it that we do it without trying.
Tony Oliver, How long how heavy how big how fast how full how cold?, 1963, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-138072647
Tony Oliver, How long how heavy how big how fast how full how cold?, 1963, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-138072647
Activity 1: Maths is everywhere
We are all using maths every day, all the time. Ask students to identify anywhere in the last 24 hours where they or their family may have used maths. Write the answers on the whiteboard.
Answers might include:
- Telling time, time management, organisation, scheduling
- Money is maths, how much things cost, how much we can afford, budgeting etc
- Cooking, budget maths, measurements for ingredients, measurements on bottle/cartons, making sure you’ve got enough food for the number of people
- Driving, determining speed, how long it takes to get places, how full our fuel tank is, how long since our last service, how much petrol costs, how much registration and insurance costs
- Music can be understood using mathematics, including structure, rhythm, pitch and harmony
- Probability, risk taking, making decisions
- Measuring space for furniture or appliances and such
- Fractions for sharing, paying rent
- Crafts such as knitting, crochet, weaving, lace making
If students are having trouble naming everyday instances of maths, instead try giving examples of everyday activities and ask them to identify where maths might be involved.
Concluding activities
Harold Cazneaux, Cazneaux family on Christmas Day eating dinner around the dining room table at Ambleside, Roseville, New South Wales, December 1937, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-144168316
Harold Cazneaux, Cazneaux family on Christmas Day eating dinner around the dining room table at Ambleside, Roseville, New South Wales, December 1937, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-144168316
Activity 2: A ‘mathemagical’ evening
Ask students to plan a dinner party. They will plan a menu, bake a cake, cater for a group, and budget for the event.
The dinner party must include:
- A cake from one of our previous exercises
- X number of dishes, possibly from a cookbook found on Trove
- X number of guests.
How many guests will your dinner party have?
How many serves does your cake recipe make?
How much will you have to multiply the recipe by to feed all your guests?
Based on the measurements in your recipe and using your answer from the last question, use multiplication to find out how much of each ingredient you will now need.
Assign the students a minimum number of dishes and a maximum budget.
Keep ideas basic, not involving many ingredients.
Using the catalogues from the previous exercise, have the students shop for everything they need.
Don’t forget that you need enough of everything for every guest to get one. You may need to use multiplication or division to find the amount you need, this is the same for the cost of the items.
Does their proposed menu fit in their budget?
Ask them to reduce portion sizes or change ingredients to reduce costs.
As a fun finale project have the students construct a fancy menu for their dinner party. This can only be created once all their working has been checked at each stage, to ensure the finished menu is the best it can be.
Curriculum links
This resource has been developed with specific reference to content descriptions in Year 3 and 4 Australian Curriculum: Mathematics.
- Recognise and represent unit fractions including 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, and 1/10 and their multiples in different ways; combine fractions with the same denominator to complete the whole (AC9M3N02)
- Use mathematical modelling to solve practical problems involving additive and multiplicative situations including financial contexts; formulate problems using number sentences and choose calculation strategies, using digital tools where appropriate; interpret and communicate solutions in terms of the situation (AC9M3N06)
- Recall and demonstrate proficiency with multiplication facts for 3, 4, 5 and 10; extend and apply facts to develop the related division facts (AC9M3A03)
- Find equivalent representations of fractions using related denominators and make connections between fractions and decimal notation (AC9M4N03)
- Count by fractions including mixed numerals; locate and represent these fractions as numbers on number lines (AC9M4N04)
- Use mathematical modelling to solve practical problems involving additive and multiplicative situations including financial contexts; formulate the problems using number sentences and choose efficient calculation strategies, using digital tools where appropriate; interpret and communicate solutions in terms of the situation (AC9M4N08)
More to explore
