Switzerland Primary School Curriculum - Mathematics (Lehrplan 21)

The Lehrplan 21 structures mathematics learning around competency areas, rather than specific grade levels. The following information is based on the framework described in the Lehrplan 21 for primary school mathematics. It covers three main competency areas: Number and Variables, Shape and Space, and Quantities, Functions, Data and Randomness. While the Lehrplan 21 does not explicitly separate 5th and 6th grade, these competencies are developed throughout the primary school cycle.

1. Number and Variables

This competency area focuses on developing a strong understanding of numbers, operations, and variables. It is further divided into three sub-areas:

• A) Operating and Naming: Students learn to understand and use arithmetical terms and symbols, read and write numbers, count flexibly, order numbers by size, estimate results, perform basic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and exponentiation), compare and transform terms, solve equations, and apply mathematical laws and rules.
• B) Exploring and Reasoning: Students explore number and operation relationships, arithmetic patterns, explain, verify, and justify statements, conjectures, and results related to numbers and variables, and use tools to explore arithmetic patterns.
• C) Mathematizing and Representing: Students represent, describe, discuss, and reproduce calculation methods, illustrate, describe, and generalize quantities, number sequences, and terms.

2. Shape and Space

This competency area focuses on developing spatial reasoning and geometric understanding. It is divided into three sub-areas:

• A) Operating and Naming: Students understand and use geometric terms and symbols, represent, decompose, and assemble figures and solids, and determine and calculate lengths, areas, and volumes.
• B) Exploring and Reasoning: Students explore geometric relationships, particularly between lengths, areas, and volumes, formulate conjectures, discuss findings, verify statements and formulas related to geometric relationships, and provide examples and justifications.
• C) Mathematizing and Representing: Students represent solids and spatial relationships, fold, sketch, draw, and construct figures, discuss and verify representations of plane geometry, visualize figures and solids in different positions, represent and describe changes (mental geometry), determine the coordinates of figures and solids in a coordinate system, represent figures and solids based on their coordinates, and read and draw plans.

3. Quantities, Functions, Data and Randomness

This competency area focuses on developing an understanding of quantities, functional relationships, data analysis, and probability. It is divided into three sub-areas:

• A) Operating and Naming: Students understand and use terms and symbols related to quantities, functions, data, and randomness, estimate, measure, convert, round, and calculate with quantities, and describe functional relationships and determine function values.
• B) Exploring and Reasoning: Students formulate questions about quantity relationships and functional relationships, explore these relationships, verify and justify results, and explore, formulate conjectures, and verify situations related to statistics, combinatorics, and probability.
• C) Mathematizing and Representing: Students collect, organize, represent, analyze, and interpret data related to statistics, combinatorics, and probability, mathematize, represent, and calculate real-world situations, interpret and verify results, and connect terms, formulas, equations, and tables with real-world situations.