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Function Junction
M AT H E M AT I C S
Student Book
Achieve Functional Skills in Mathematics
Student name:
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Centre:
Contents
1
2
3
Functional Skills criteria for Mathematics
4
4
Recording progress
6
5
Activities for building skills
7-34
6
Activities for practising and applying skills
35-37
7
Preparation for assessment
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Development Course
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2
Introduction
38-43
44
1. Introduction
Welcome to Function Junction: Mathematics
1
The activities will help you to build and practise your Functional
Mathematics skills. They will also help you to learn to apply
your skills to solve problems. Your tutor will help you choose
the activities you need to try and will make sure that they are
part of the course you are on.
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Introduction
The activities in this book are relevant to everyday contexts and
appropriate for students on programmes such as CoPE,
GCSEs, Diplomas or Foundation Learning. If you are a GCSE
student, Functional Skills will be built into your GCSE
Mathematics course as well.
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Use this book to keep a record of everything you have learnt and
the feedback your tutor has given you. You can also keep a
record of your own thoughts about what you have done well and
things that could be improved.
Good luck and enjoy the activities on your way to success in
Functional Mathematics!
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When you have completed the activities and your tutor has
helped you to record what you have done, you will be ready to
take the Functional Mathematics practice assessment at Level 2.
When your teacher agrees that you are ready, you will be able to
take the Functional Mathematics assessment at Level 2.
page 2
2. Functional Skills criteria for
Mathematics
2
Functional Mathematics is about the skills and abilities you need in your everyday life, the workplace and
at school or college.
The Functional Mathematics criteria have two sections:
Criteria
A Process skills
The process skills and the framework for Functional Mathematics help you to develop your skills in
tackling problems and to:
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• understand a situation
• choose an approach to tackle the problem
• identify the information you will need
• decide what Mathematics you will need to use
• use Mathematics to find answers
• check your answers
• interpret your results
• communicate what you have found out
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They also help you to apply and adapt your problem-solving and Mathematics abilities to other
situations as they arise.
There are three process skills:
Making sense of situations
Analysing
Processing and using
Mathematics
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Function Junction: Mathematics
Representing
Interpreting
Interpreting and
communicating the results of
the analysis
There is more information in the table on the next page. The challenges in Section 5 will help you to
develop and practise these skills.
page 4
For each of the activities:
• think about the what you need to do
• decide what Mathematics you will use
• practise the Mathematics using the exercises
• write your answers in the spaces provided
4
The activities in this section will help you build and practise your skills in Mathematics. You
may need to use other equipment, including a computer, to complete some of the activities.
Your teacher will help you to choose the activities you need to do – you may not need to do
all the activities in this section.
Building Skills
4. Activities for building skills
Activity One
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You may use a calculator for all the tasks, but remember to use checking procedures (such
as estimating or reverse calculations) to check all your answers.
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Practise reading maps and working with
distances and scales. Then plan two journeys,
using a different type of map for each.
(a) To drive from Ipswich to Edinburgh?
(b) To get to an address in your home town?
(c) To find a town in your local area?
page 7
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1 Ask your teacher to lend you copies of the three different types of maps. Which one would you
use:
Function Junction: Mathematics
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Functional Mathematics (coverage and range):
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9
3 You have decided that the cornflakes would keep longer in an airtight container. The local shop
has a range that looks OK but you would like to be sure that the cornflakes would fit.
Your cornflakes come in a box that measures
95mm x 240mm x 320mm tall. The box is only 7/8 full.
4
B
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Building Skills
A
The containers are cylindrical.
A is 32cm tall with a diameter of 16cm,
B is 16cm tall with a diameter of 20cm.
(a) Which container should you buy to store a whole box of cornflakes?
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(b) How can you check your answer?
4 Which is the better buy: two pints of milk for 90p or one litre of milk for 84p? (Show your
working and how you could check your answer).
page 28
Answer:
5. Activities for practising and
applying skills
4
Building Skills
This section gives you a choice of activities to practise all your skills. The activities use a
problem-solving approach, as required by the Functional Skills standards. In our daily lives we
have to use our Mathematics skills in many different situations and we need to make decisions
about how best to apply them according to the context. There is nearly always more than just
one way of tackling things.
It is best to approach such a ‘problem’ scenario in a logical way, with sensible steps taken in
sequence to reach a ‘solution’. Think about how you will solve the problem, what information
you will need and what Mathematics you will use. Remember to check your working and to
present your results and findings in a clear and suitable way, so that other people can
understand what you have done.
Before you start:
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The questions below can be applied to all the situations set out in the following pages. Carry
out the activities as described, or choose alternative ways of practising and applying your
skills.
• What are you hoping to find out?
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• What information will you need?
• Where will you find the information?
• What resources will you need (e.g. calculator, computer)?
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Function Junction: Mathematics
• What Mathematics will you need to do?
• How will you present your results and findings?
When you have finished, ask yourself:
• Have I checked all the answers?
• Have I used the best methods?
• Have I solved the problem?
• Do my results make sense?
• Could I have done this in a better or different way?
page 34
Activity 7
Practising and Applying Skills
Research patterns of employment, including part-time and
full-time working, flexible work practices and holiday
entitlement, in your local area. You could find out
information by looking at newspaper supplements, visiting
the Job Centre or speaking to a Connexions adviser.
Produce an information leaflet for job seekers about the
types of employment typically available in your area.
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Context: You want to investigate the weather conditions in
your area to compare with the average for your region.
5
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Functional Mathematics (coverage and range) reference
may include: 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11
Activity 8
Function Junction: Mathematics
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Make or buy suitable equipment to measure air quality or
other weather data (e.g. temperature, air pressure). Keep a
note of the readings every day for a week. Find out data on
the average conditions for your region at a similar time of
year. Draw graphs to compare the two sets of data. What
conclusions can you draw? Suggest reasons for any
differences between your measurements and the average.
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Functional Mathematics (coverage and range) reference
may include: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11
Context: Work with 2-D and 3-D shapes to create and produce
decorations
Design and produce seasonal decorations for a
multi-cultural nursery. Research traditional decorations
and choose five that you will make, including both 2-D and
3-D shapes. Work out what materials and templates you
will require to construct the decorations and think about
how the different designs could fit together. Use what you
have made to decorate a nursery and ask for feedback on
how successful your designs have been.
Functional Mathematics (coverage and range) reference
may include: 2, 3, 6, 7, 8
Activity 9
page 37
Context: You are looking for job opportunities in your local
area and want to know whether you will be able to find a job
that suits you.
6. Preparation for Functional
Mathematics assessment
6
Remember to read through the tasks before you start work. One of the tasks includes an
information booklet – make sure that you look at all the information before you start. You can
ask about any words that you do not understand but try to do all the working on your own.
You will see that some of the tasks show the number of marks for each section. It is important
to check that you think you have done enough to earn the marks. Remember that you will be
assessed on the process skills as well as the Mathematical skills you use, so it is important to
plan what you will do, write down all your calculations, check all your answers and present
your work clearly.
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When you have finished an example task, ask your teacher to mark it for you. The example
tasks start on the next page.
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Preparation for Assessment
The following example tasks are taken from Level 2 Functional Mathematics assessments. You
will need paper (lined and graph/squared), a calculator, a pencil and a ruler.
page 38
POSTAGE SURVEY
6
Number of packages sent
Postage cost of packages sent
CDs
342
£328.92
DVDs
276
£129.86
Flash drives
540
£1,043.40
Inkjet cartridges
665
£1,054.25
Toner cartridges
489
£1,320.30
Formula:
Total postage and packing cost (including labour and materials cost)
= 107.5% x postage cost
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Assessment tasks
As you work through the tasks, make sure that you:
• Lay out your work clearly, including all the methods/working that you have done – even
if you have used a calculator or done them in your head
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Preparation for Assessment
Item
• Check all your answers and show the checks you have made
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(4 marks)
Task 1 – Sending packages by post
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Function Junction: Mathematics
This task is about packaging USB flash drives for sending through the post. USB flash drives are
packaged in boxes with the dimensions shown below:
8 cm
1.3 cm
2.7 cm
Each flash drive weighs 24g.
Customers must buy a minimum of five flash drives. The company expects that 1,500 people will
order the minimum number.
page 42
The five flash drives are to be packed in a small
box to keep them together and make sure that
they arrive undamaged. The diagram shows how
the flash drives will be packed in the box.
8 cm
The box is then packed in a padded mail bag.
(Assume length and width of the filled mail bag
are the same as the unfilled bag, with a thickness
of less than 2.5cm).
2.7 cm
Development Course
If you have completed activities in this book you could count your work as a
Development Course for two credits into the Certificate of Personal Effectiveness (CoPE)
and other ASDAN Programmes (Bronze, Silver, Gold, FE Awards).
7
You must:
Spend a minimum of 20 hours working on activities from sections 4, 5 and 6
Complete the sections of the book you have worked on
Fill in the relevant sections of the book as you go
Ask your tutor to verify completion with a signature and date in the box below
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Sign and date in the box below to verify that it is your own work
If you would like certificates:
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Development Course
Complete the record of progress on page 5
Ask your tutor to contact ASDAN for details about how to register
Complete the verification box below
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Check that all the necessary activities and record of progress are complete
Development Course Verification
Tutor
“I verify that
Signed:
has completed work in this book according to the criteria.”
Date:
Student
page 44
“I verify that the completed work in this book is my own.”
Signed:
Date:
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