The Numeracy Pack
This updated version of the Numeracy Pack is intended for “anyone who wants to improve their mathematics at the levels covered in the Adult Numeracy Core Curriculum (DFES 2001) and for anyone who wants to help someone to do so.” The pack is divided into four books covering 1) number, 2) four rules,3) fractions, decimals, percentages, ratio and proportion and 4) measurement, handling data, use of calculators and other Technology. The packs can be read in any order and emphasize the need to understand the processes involved.
These A4 sized books give a good feeling about mathematics before the content is even looked at. Not only are the covers brightly coloured leading the reader to feel that numeracy is an interesting subject but colour is used throughout to enhance the headings and borders A good quality paper is used and the size of the print on uncluttered pages allows comfortable reading.
Considerable thought has been given to leading readers to become confident independent learners capable of tackling any mathematics that they meet in everyday life. Previous feelings or anxieties are brought to the surface and useful techniques to encourage positive feelings are discussed such a keeping a maths diary. Reading through the diary highlights the pattern of learning that can sometimes be a few steps forward and a couple back but ultimately leads to success. Strengths and weaknesses can be identified and the weaknesses worked on. The sentiments in the quotes from previous learners ring true and allow the reader to know that others people have experienced learning blocks and have found ways to overcome these difficulties.
All the mathematical content of the books is very clearly explained with definitions and examples given, accompanied by plenty of practice exercises. There is variety in the activities, from crosswords to working out your own body mass index. Having discovered I was just overweight it might be wise not to share this working out. The quality of the everyday problems is very good and a great strength of the pack e. g, real problems involve utility bills, pay increases, shop discounts, mixing plant food and a wide variety of other commonly found contexts. Answers are given and learners are sensibly encouraged to work backwards from the answers if they need to. They are encouraged not to regard this is as cheating as understanding is paramount.
Place value is given the necessary emphasis so that the learner can understand and manipulate numbers using the four operations. The pack provides many visual images to use as tools to assist learning for e.g. counting involving repeated patterns of dots, larger numbers by oblongs containing squares, the multiplication square, grouping of dots or oblongs for multiplication and division. The page on the metric system was a bit frightening as it was overcrowded but overall the diagrams were incredibly clear and usefully annotated.
The philosophy behind the pack appears to be that the learner should use whichever methods of calculation they feel happy with. If the learner wants to do all the subtraction calculations using the written column method, that is fine. Having said this, alternative procedures are explained. These include methods such as decomposition, expanded and traditional shortened forms. It is also suggested that a calculator could be used as long as the answer could be recognised as reasonable. There is the possibility that learners confident with place value may move away from rule bound procedures they learnt at school and probably didn’t understand to those that support understanding of number processes, but there is no compunction to do so. Personally I would have liked to have had more coverage of calculator use and how to make approximations rather than having to do long division and multiplication exercises.
I would wholeheartedly recommend this Numeracy Pack as it easy to follow, relevant to modern life and encouraging to the adult learner.
Tessa Benie
Independent Numeracy Consultant
The Numeracy Pack
Publisher: The Basic Skills Agency
ISBN: 1 85990 317 7
Age range: post 16
Price: £12 .00 plus postage and packing
