Adult Numeracy, Functional Maths, and GCSE Resources

This is great as a warm-up activity or a bit of end-of-term fun. It is suitable for a mixed ability group of numeracy learners, or indeed literacy or ESOL learners. This quiz tests learners’ knowledge of how old someone has to be in order to do certain things legally, e.g. be a blood donor. It can be used in small group or pair work (which worked well for me) as well as individually.

A 12-question test, designed for an Adult Numeracy class consisting largely of ESOL speakers.
Covers the terms “import” and “export”, since these often crop up in exams. Also mean, mode, median and range, and the meanings of “discount”, “under”, “approximately”, “difference” and “enlarged”. A little fraction revision, too: students have to identify 1/3 as “one-third”.

Learners round the same number to a several different degrees of precision. This reinforces that the important thing about rounding is what one is rounding to..

Covers geometric drawings, area, perimeter, money, metric measures, tallies, line graphs and much more.
Fully mapped to the Functional Maths criteria and process skills. With answer sheet.

Editor’s note
Wonderful open ended project. Ideal for E3-L2 mixed ability groups.

An updated version of Gordon Noblett’s 2011 resource (see below). This version includes the correct tax allowances and information for 2012-13. It also includes an answer sheet. The original description is repeated below.

Challenging and very functional worksheets where learner must complete the missing information and calculate the take-home pay etc. for various UK tax payers. There are also some interesting open questions that are ideal for Functional Maths interpreting skills.
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Mean, Mode, Median and Range: Investigation into house prices.

Students use www.rightmove.co.uk to explore house prices in areas of their choice. For example pairs of students could explore house prices in different cities in the UK.

They will need access to computers. You will also need to establish criteria before they start to collect their data so that like for like houses are being compared. For example all of the groups are to compare prices of 2 bedroom flats in the cities of their choice.

Students design a board game to demonstrate their learning. This can incorporate IT skills (Word template provided below) or can be done with paper, card and pens.

I originally did this with an E2E group and it proved popular. It’s an alternative to the “design a poster” task to review learning. The instructions are set out as a board game. it can be used for literacy, numeracy, ICT or ESOL.

A functional skills activity based on production at microbrewery. Mostly covers measures and percentages. Includes a challenging extension section on calculating excise duty.

Editor’s note
Fully mapped to L1-2 Functional maths. Sorry have no time to create an answer sheet – volunteers welcome!
If your learners are E3-L1 try the equally good “Out for a drink” by the same author.

An animated PowerPoint presentation (86 slides) that covers several topics: Fractions & Percentages;Units of Measure; Charts & Graphs; Ratio, Scale & Proportion; Perimeter, Area & Volume; Averages and Range. There are also some links for a planned inclusion of other topics at a later date (Time & Money, Tables and Formulae).

This presentation can be used in class, driven by the teacher, but it is also ideal as a guide for self-study.

Not really suitable for handouts, as there are many animated sequences that would overlap on the printed page.

[img_assist|nid=5329|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=left|width=100|height=70]A set of differentiated tasks for construction students. I used the E3-L1 task with my Entry to L1 group and then the more challenging task with my L1-L2 students.

The use of measure is aways useful for my students as it is something they need to practise constantly given their vocational areas. The lesson was enjoyed by all, especially the hands-on measuring task prompted lots of fun and discussion. Encourage students to get others to check their measurements and validate their results.