Adult Numeracy, Functional Maths, and GCSE Resources

A substantial resource designed to encourage students to tackle large projects in bite sized pieces. Originally used with E2E learners but suitable for all age groups. Aimed at E3- L1, it covers many literacy and numeracy topics and also requires some IT and research skills. Also used for L1 Key Skills IT portfolios and would now (2010) make an ideal Functional Skills project.

A resource based on catalogues (Argos and Littlewoods) that works especially well with younger students. 2 versions, differentiated for Level 1 and Level 2. Covers addition and subtraction (money) and percentages.

Posting parcels provides a wonderful realistic and practical task – working out the cost of sending various sized parcels by Royal Mail. Covers weighing, measuring, reading information from tables, awareness of 3d shapes and space, etc.
Written by Lynn Savage and Judith Ryan

Use a copy of Auto Trader (or similar) to select and buy cars – working out deposits and monthly payments. Then buy cars to do up and sell at a profit!

Statistics investigation that involves extracting information from tables; tallies and general number practice based on past World Cup statistics and a Feb 2007 England and Australia match.

What’s the weather like? and Party Time! are two ‘real-life’ task sheets that involve budgeting, Excel charts and tables, rounding and checking, and finding mean and range.

A twist on our ever-popular original E1-L1 Smarties resource (see below) rewritten for Level 1-2 students. Now with questions on mean, mode, median and pie charts.

Planning a Journey. Research and plan a journey for Wales to Italy. Structured, with fill-in boxes for destinations, mode of transport, cost, etc. Covers many areas of the E3 – L1 literacy & numeracy curricula. Inc: money, timetables, calendars, extracting information, reading strategies.
Written for learners on the autistic spectrum (who often find it particularly difficult to infer meaning that is not explicitly stated) but suitable for many literacy and/or numeracy students.

Fabulous statistics investigation that involves extracting information from tables; reading, comparing and calculating with measures; and much discussion about healthy (unhealthy?) eating!
If you like Saul’s resources he has a book: ‘58 quick activities that don’t need a photocopier’.

A great project that covers many L1/2 numeracy elements. You win the lottery, buy a salon and have to furnish it from catalogues and/or Internet sites. Learn about budgeting, displaying data, working with areas and floor plans, bank statements, rounding, estimating, and much more. Everything must be written up as a comprehensive report with a clear conclusion (a great guidance page on report writing is included in the resource).