This summer, I went on holiday to Canada to visit family. I stayed in Markham, Ontario which is about half an hour from the centre of Toronto (which is not the capital of Canada).
On my first full day in Canada, my cousin and I ended to Downtown Toronto to do some shopping. We went to a small tourist shop as I wanted to buy a cup (I felt that I needed a new staffroom cup and what’s better than a cup with the skyline of Toronto on it). My cousin told me this confusing piece of information.
“The cup will come to about $8.93 but you will only get $1.05 dollars change”
I looked at her confusingly.
“What about the other 2 cents?”
She explained that in Canada they no longer make “pennies” which are one cent so to allow cash transactions they are now rounded to the closest 5 cents (CBC News, 2013). In 2012, the Royal Canadian Mint ceased the penny. However, the coin is still a legal tender. It wasn’t until 3rd February 2013, that the Royal Canadian Mint officially stopped distributing the penny (Royal Canadian Mint, no date)
While in Markham, I volunteered in an elementary school. I volunteered in the class where my auntie is a support teacher. The class consists of 6 Kindergarten (Primary 1) and Grade 1 (Primary 2) children who are all very high on the autistic spectrum. When I was there, the children were learning about the names and values of all the coins which I found very interesting. They were still taught about the “Penny” though it was explained to them that they are no longer made. The children nodded to this but one of the boys clicked on very quickly.
“But Ms, what if I buy something which does not end in a 5 or a 0”
We were very impressed that he had managed to understand this concept. The teacher explained to him as simply as she could that the money was either rounded up or rounded down.
“But Ms, that’s not fair. You might get less money back than you are meant to”
This little boy was not giving up.
“But the next time you might get more money than you were meant to”
The teacher replied.
“But if you get less money both times, then you are just very unlucky”
The boy said which made us laugh.
Thinking back on this lesson, I can identify different aspects of profound understanding of Mathematics that Liping Ma identified. Having basic ideas (Ma, 2010) of mathematics is important in calculating money in Canada. Not only do you have to be able to round to the nearest 0 or 5, you also have to be able to work out and then add the tax. This then includes the aspect of interconnectedness (Ma, 2010).You have to use other knowledge which you already know to find the answer. It includes a variety of skills such as multiplication, addition and rounding. During this lesson, the teacher held longitudinal coherence (Ma, 2010) as she already knew about the system and though surprised by the child’s question she was able to answer the question effectively.
Is it fair though? I thought back to the task, when we flipped the coin. It is not a 50:50 chance. Are people better or worse off because of the abolishment of the penny? Or does it not matter because of how small a value the penny is worth?
I have thought continuously about this and can’t seem to get to a conclusion. In Canada, they just accept this but coming from a country where we have one pence and two pence. I couldn’t understand how they could just let the cent or two cent slide. Though, I do see that sometimes you would gain a cent or two but would it balance?
Reference
CBC News (2013) ‘Canada’s penny withdrawal: all you need to know’. Available at: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-s-penny-withdrawal-all-you-need-to-know-1.1174547 (accessed on 16/11/16)
Ma, L., (2010) Knowing and teaching elementary mathematics (Anniversary Ed.). New York: Routledge.
Royal Canadian Mint (no date) ‘Phasing out the penny’ Available at: http://www.mint.ca/store/mint/about-the-mint/phasing-out-the-penny-6900002#.WCxYUYXXLVI (accessed on 16/11/16)
