ERIC Number: ED359326
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1993
Pages: 5
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0260-5104
EISSN: N/A
Working with Numbers.
Newton, Derek
Adult Literacy and Basic Skills Unit (ALBSU) Newsletter, n48 insert win 1993
In order to help students learn mathematics skills and how to apply them, a staff development workshop for vocational tutors was held at Calderdale College (England). The workshop focused on three objectives: to identify and raise awareness of students' needs, to identify barriers to learning, and to identify ways of supporting students. Four key areas of mathematics were stressed: money, measurement, data handling, and spatial relationship. In the first half of the session, the tutors were asked to carry out four tasks: (1) to write a log of the ways in which they have encountered or used numbers in the past 24 hours; (2) to sort their logs into vocational and social uses of numbers; (3) to identify the numeracy needed by their students in their working lives; and (4) to analyze three or four vocational tasks into their basic numeracy components. Tutors also were made aware of the barriers faced by their students, such as the language used to perform calculations and the difficulties students may have in handling formal mathematical techniques. Finally, tutors were taught common mathematical errors and presented with samples of some of the teaching materials available. (KC)
Descriptors: Adult Basic Education, Adult Literacy, Adult Students, Foreign Countries, Inservice Teacher Education, Literacy Education, Mathematical Applications, Mathematics Instruction, Numeracy, Teaching Methods, Vocational Education Teachers
Adult Literacy and Basic Skills Unit (ALBSU), Kingsbourne House, 229-231 High Holborn, London WC1V 7DA, England.
Publication Type: Journal Articles
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Adult Literacy and Basic Skills Unit, London (England).
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A