Adult Numeracy, Functional Maths, and GCSE Resources

A quick but very useful match-up activity that makes a good starter activity for financial literacy or employment skills courses - and it's bound to prompt discussion.

Editor's note

Written for an Australian audience but I have added a UK version on page 2.  Learners can draw lines to match the items or, for a reusable resource, the page could be laminated and/or cut into 12 cards. 

8 May 2023 7pm improvements to page 4 extension question (upside down tear-off hints, scaffolding, etc.)  and other minor adjustments).
he first in a new series of Cost of Living resources. Use research on the increasing costs of homemade sandwiches to calculate original costs from the previous year. Plus a challenging extension question about misleading statistics in a related newspaper article.

Challenging set of  questions based on an infographic from a recent TV Licensing annual review.  Aimed at L1-2 but a few questions are Entry 2/3 - there are also  a couple of  "stretch questions" making a bridge to GCSE. Two main topics are covered: working with very large numbers and percentages. Extracting data, equivalents and ordering decimals are also touched upon.

This is a set of worksheets in a MS Excel workbook that deals with fractions.
- Sheet one: a set of pictures (pie charts) that shows fractions from halves to tenths
- Sheet two: equivalent fractions with two pie charts, learners can input fractions and see if they are equivalent by looking at the shape of the pie charts
- Sheet three: starting to look at fractions being equivalent to decimals with two pie charts one for fractions and one for decimals

An introductory PPT based task to find the value of the three words in ‘Happy New Year’, given certain values for each letter. This is followed up by a set of question cards on calculations with the letters of Happy New Year and an algebra worksheet with the same given values, using BODMAS.

I made this resource to check prior learning of a group I took over from another lecturer. It could work well for assessment, revision or as an extension task.

Editor’s note
Major update May 21. NEW answer sheet is also now available (contributors only) with detailed curriculum mapping for Reformed Functional Maths - visit our ANSWER SHEETS page for more information.

A lovely selection of quick generic and contextualised whole number and decimal problems to improve mental arithmetic skills.

Village Fair – calculator calculations is a great way to practise money based problem solving on a calculator. It is followed by a fun set (30+ problems) of ‘calculator words’ where you must complete the given calculation and then turn your calculator upside down!

A great way to practise written (and mental) multiplication and division skills.

The percentage worker-outer is a brilliant step by step guide to working out any percentage – no calculator or lengthy written methods needed. With examples, practice questions and extra blank ‘worker-outers’.