Functional Skills Scenarios for Mathematics

One essential aspect of Functional Skills is “mastery”; the ability of learners to “identify and use the appropriate skill in any novel situation”.

Guroo supports this concept by providing you with a wide variety of resources that help learners practice their skills in different settings - both familiar and unfamiliar. We call these situations “Learning Challenges” and the more scenarios your learners use their skills in, the closer they get to that ideal of “mastery” where it no longer matters what the situation is.

The scenarios listed below are Learning Challenges in the guroo service that were specifically designed for functional Mathematics. However, you should also note that there are areas of most challenges that are relevant to the Functional Skills standards of other subjects. So, while your colleagues in ICT and English are working through their subjects’ guroo Learning Challenges, they will also be covering part of functional Mathematics! And vice versa.

You will also find that although you may be working with learners at a particular level, many of the materials at other levels can also be used as the basis of valuable practice.

The guroo Functional Skills service currently includes these Learning Challenges for Mathematics:

Level 2

Gardeners World

Your friend has a landscaping business and has asked you to help him with some gardening jobs. You will need to:
•    work out the area of a garden so that it can lay some grass
•    mix a solution of insecticide to spray on infected plants
•    calculate how much money you will earn.

Irish Blarney

You will be asked to arrange a weekend break to Dublin for yourself and three of your friends. The tasks that you’ll be asked to complete are:
•    finding a suitable hotel
•    working out how much each person will have to pay
•    converting spending money from pounds to euros
•    working out how far they will have to travel.

Blooming Lovely

You just started a part-time job in the local florists. In your first week, the owner asks you to:
•    do a stock check to identify what type of flowers need to be re-ordered
•    check and record storage temperatures
•    work out the week’s profit.

Fitness First

You have been asked by your tutor to conduct a survey for a college project. You decide you subject will be the local fitness centre. The statistics you have to find are:
•    the mean monthly number of sale of different exercise classes
•    the age range of members
•    the median number of members over given periods.

Tabloid News

You are completing your work experience at the national newspaper. Your duties will include working with:
•    the weather team to produce daily forecasts
•    the design team to produce a crossword grid for the prize puzzle competition
•    the competition editor to produce the prize crossword puzzle.

Fishy Business

In this challenge, you have a part time job in a shop that sells tropical fish and fish tanks.
You will need to:
•    work out the volume of water that will be needed to fill a fish
•    work out the correct amount of salt that the fish will need in that volume of water
•    calculate the correct water temperature for a new fish being sold

Going For Gold

In this challenge, you are a member of the Olympics planning team and have been asked to help with the final stages of the preparation before the games begin.  You also have some tasks to carry out when the games are over for the press release and final article to close the games.  These duties are:
•    to work out how much turf is needed for the football pitch
•    to work out how much paint is needed to mark the football pitch
•    to work out by how much an old world record has been beaten
•    to work out the percentage increase or decrease in the number of gold medals

It’s My Party!

In this challenge, you are organising a surprise party for your friend, Sunil.
You will need to:
•    work out the recipe for some cakes that you want to make
•    calculate  how much food you will need for all the guests and how much it will cost
•    create an invitation to send out  - remember it is a surprise party

Level 1

MOT Heaven

You have to get your car ready for its MOT. You will be asked to:
•    order a replacement part, using the correct measurements
•    check the amount of fuel and the tyre pressure
•    top up the oil tank.

Up Beat

You have completed a survey about the different types of music people like. You will be asked to:
•    present the results of the survey in table format
•    create and label a pie chart from the table of information
•    explain the results you have collected.

Helping Hands

You have accepted a short-term work placement at the local hospital. Your duties will include:
•    monitoring patients’ temperatures
•    recording patients’ weight.

Football Crazy

You are a member of the local football club and have recently been asked to take over as club secretary. Some of the duties you have been asked to perform in preparation for the new season are to:
•    work out the monthly subs for all club members
•    order turf and fencing for the home ground
•    organise the cup draws for the coming season.

Big Night Out

In this challenge, you are going on a night out with 4 friends and have been asked to:
•    find a suitable taxi company
•    workout how much each person will have to pay for the taxi
•    work out how much each person will have to pay for their food (including a tip for the waitress)

The Price Is Right?

In this challenge, you work in a local newsagents and unfortunately the till has broken down.  To do the tasks you will either need to do the calculations in your head or do them on paper. Your tasks will be:
•    to calculate how much a customer should pay for what they have bought
•    to calculate how much change you should give the customer
•    to calculate how much money is in the till at the end of the day

Entry Level 3

Be Patient

In this challenge, you are helping out at the local animal hospital at the weekends.   Your duties will include:
•    monitoring the temperatures of the animals
•    recording the weight of the animals

Up To You

In this challenge, you have collected information about what your class are thinking of doing when they have finished their Year 11 courses.  You need to:
•    present the results of your survey as a table of information
•    use this information to create and label a bar chart
•    explain what the bar chart  tells you about what  your class are thinking of doing

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