Sorting and classifying data – Venn and Carroll Diagrams
Venn and Carroll Diagrams provide useful ways of sorting data by category.
A Venn diagram uses ovals to show the relationships between sets of objects.
Adult Numeracy Core Curriculum
Ideas and Suggestions
The skill of extracting specific information from lists, tables, charts, diagrams and graphs is an important one, but so too is looking at the information as a whole and drawing conclusions from it. Encouraging learners to talk or write about the data that they are examining can
Adult Numeracy Core Curriculum
Ideas and Suggestions
Estimation and Measuring
Encouraging learners to estimate measurements wherever the opportunity arises can help to consolidate understanding of the various units of measurement. Improvising with everyday objects or body parts for comparison, such as a learner’s soft drinks bottle for capacity, or hand span for length, makes estimating a more investigative activity, and is an approach that is also applicable at Entry Level 1.
Adult Numeracy Core Curriculum
Ideas and suggestions
One way of illustrating the difference between ratio and proportion, and their connection with fractions, percentages and decimals, is to give an example and look at alternative ways of presenting the same information.
Adult Numeracy Core Curriculum
Ideas and Suggestions
Adult Numeracy Core Curriculum
Ideas and Suggestions
Language and numeracy
The language of numeracy and mathematics can not only be challenging for speakers of other languages, but also for those learners whose first language is English. Addressing mathematical language issues can help to allay the anxieties that some learners have about numeracy.
Adult Numeracy Core Curriculum
Ideas and Suggestions
Other areas of the curriculum and handling data
The area of data handling inevitably involves cross-over with other areas of the numeracy curriculum, depending on what sort of data is being handled. Therefore the topic can be used to introduce and/or revise other areas of the curriculum (including using it as a vehicle for diagnosing existing learner knowledge and understanding in these areas).
Adult Numeracy Core Curriculum
Ideas and Suggestions
Other areas of the curriculum and measures, shape and space
The areas of measures, shape and space involve many links with other parts of the curriculum. This means, for example, that skills such as calculating with whole numbers or decimals can be introduced or revised through measuring.
The origins of the word ‘algebra’ can be traced back to the early ninth century, to the work of Muhammad ibn Musa Al-Khorezmi in the Middle East. The word ‘al-jabr’, which featured in the title of his book The Comprehensive Book of Calculation by Balance and Opposition, means ‘balance’, and later became ‘algebra’. Interestingly, modern algebraic notation did not appear until much later. Instead, equations were solved using words.
Adult Numeracy Core Curriculum
Ideas and Suggestions
Adult Numeracy Core Curriculum
Ideas and Suggestions
Checking strategies
Encouraging the development of a repertoire of strategies for checking answers to calculations can not only improve results, but also build confidence and enable learners to become more autonomous.
Adult Numeracy Core Curriculum
Ideas and suggestions
Estimating and approximating in numeracy
Often in mathematics and numeracy, a lot of emphasis is placed on giving exact answers and carrying out precise calculations. However there is much value to be gained from encouraging learners to estimate or approximate answers to questions.
