NUMERACY RESOURCES

Books

Building Strength in Numeracy

This free online resource revises and improves on the iconic numeracy resources 'Strength in Numbers' and 'Breaking the Maths Barrier', and other 'tried and true' numeracy teaching resources. It is a collection of activities that builds on and updates elements of the previous resources, as well as including many new ideas, activities and student practice exercises. The resource is accessible online for teachers to use in a range of settings. Available from:  http://www.valbec.org.au/building-strength-with-numeracy/index.htm

Consumer Affairs Victoria, Consumer Stuff

Consumer Affairs Victoria has produced a number of FREE resources called Consumer Stuff that have an applied learning focus using real-life scenarios. There are free teacher resources in the areas of Maths, English and Commerce alongside Health and Wellbeing and Consuming Planet Earth. Go to: https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/resources-and-tools/teacher-resources/resources and follow the link to the Teacher Resources page where you can download the pdfs. Note: If you are a numeracy/maths teacher, don’t just look at the Maths book (which was updated and significantly rewritten a few years ago), look at Commerce, Health and Wellbeing and Consuming Planet Earth as they have great, real life based activities.

VicRoads VCAL Road Safety Units (2006, updated 2011 and 2012)

These 11 units combine different aspects of road safety with literacy, numeracy and generic skills such as problem solving and working in teams. Each unit contains activity outlines with comprehensive guidance to teachers, worksheets and assessment record proformas. Published by VicRoads, the units are available to download free from https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/safety-and-road-rules/road-safety-education/secondary-schools/vcal-road-safety-units .

Having fun with maths: activities and games for developing maths language and skills

Published by Multifangled P/L [available from: Multifangled, MAV, AAMT and ACER]. The games and activities in this book focus on the development of fundamental maths skills through co-operative group work and the use of hands-on materials, as well as on enjoyment and having fun in order to build confidence and overcome maths anxiety. Has a focus on supporting and encouraging the language of maths.

Car Costs

A numeracy and maths workbook based around the topic of cars and road safety. The resource was partly funded by the RACV. Called Car Costs: a numeracy workbook, it is available from Multifangled, ACER and MAV,

Numeracy: Teaching Mathematics in Context (formerly Foundation Numeracy in Context)

Originally published by ACER Press as Foundation Numeracy in Context, and written by Dave Tout and Gary Motteram, this reference book/guide has recently been fully updated and republished as Numeracy: Teaching Mathematics in Context. The book argues the case for teaching maths in context and outlines different options and strategies for teaching maths and numeracy in real life contexts.  See: Multifangled.

Aspire Learning Resources

Aspire LR publish a range of adult literacy and numeracy materials, both paper-based and e-books, including some written against the Foundation Skills Training Package (FSK). See: https://aspirelr.com.au/training-packages/fsk-foundation-skills and https://aspirelr.com.au/training-packages/lln-employability-skills

Some other suitable numeracy/maths books

Forster, Ian, et al, Hands-on Maths in Practice, Pearson Education Australia, Melbourne, 1997

Thomson, Sue & Forster, Ian, 2006 Access to Prevocational Maths, Pearson Education Australia, Melbourne

Thomson, Sue & Forster, Ian, 2007 Access to Prevocational Maths 2, Pearson Education Australia, Melbourne

Vize, Anne, 2005, Maths Skills for Living, & Maths Skills for Working, Phoenix Education, Putney, NSW

Vize, Anne, 2013, Real World Maths - Building skills for diverse learners, Banksia Publishing, Frankston, Vic

Weber, Lauris, 2003, The Language of Maths (Secondary Level), AEE Publishing, Queensland

CD ROMs and multimedia

Tout, Dave and Marr, Beth, Measuring up: an interactive multimedia computer resource for numeracy learners, Protea Textware, Melbourne, 1997 [available from: www.proteatextware.com.au]

Lowe, Ian, 2001, Mathematics at Work, (CD-ROM), AAMT, Adelaide [available from MAV]

Lowe, Ian, 2003, People Count: Numeracy for Adults, (CD-ROM), Ian Lowe, Melbourne [available from MAV]

Video Education Australasia (http://www.vea.com.au/ ) have a range of DVDs available, including: ALGEBRA: A Piece of Cake!, Algebraic Notation - Maths as a Foreign Language, Into the Negative Zone!, Let’s Get Straight: Linear Equations and Their Graphs, Life by the Numbers series, and more.

Some suitable (adult and youth) L&N teaching websites

SAFE-T1: This website has a range of information and activities (online and print based) about workplace health and safety. A number of the activities are designed to develop literacy skills. See www.safe-t1.net.au

BBC Skillwise:  Literacy, numeracy, games, learner’s stories and much more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/

And some good school maths sites with some great ideas and activities:

http://www.maths300.com/about.htm

https://nzmaths.co.nz/

Jo Boaler’s amazing website with videos, activities and more: https://www.youcubed.org/

http://nrich.maths.org/frontpage

Workplace numeracy materials

There is a Federal Govt website, LiteracyNET, that houses a range of workplace-related LLN resources, along with a number of general literacy resources:

For a good report on LLN and industry see the No More Excuses report at:

The WELL Practitioner’s Network has a resources page:

In particular look at these websites for numeracy resources:

Another good website for workplace numeracy resources:

NCVER Numeracy Research Reports (note you will need to search for the titles on the NCVER publications website):

Tina Berghella &  John Molenaar (2013) Seeking the N in LLN

Beth Marr & Jan Hagston, J. (2007). Thinking beyond numbers: Learning numeracy for the future workplace.

Lynne Gleeson (2005) Economic returns to education and training for adults with low numeracy skills

Gail FitzSimons,  Susan Mlcek,  Oksana Hull,  Claire Wright (2005) Learning numeracy on the job: A case study of chemical handling and spraying

Financial literacy & banking:

http://www.understandingmoney.gov.au/

http://www.dollarsandsense.com.au/

http://www.financialliteracy.gov.au/

EssiMoney: www.essimoney.com.au

ASIC: https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/

And there’s VALA:

The Victorian Applied Learning Association (VALA) is the peak organisation for applied learning practitioners. They include a resources section available to VALA members. Visit:  http://www.vala.asn.au/index.htm

And for AFL freaks and more:

There is a Federal Govt website, LiteracyNET, that houses a range of federally funded resources. LiteracyNet has unfortunately changed over the years as Government Departments change. The current website is: https://www.education.gov.au/literacy-net

Dave and colleagues were involved in a number of LLN resources funded through Federal Govt sources, such as Football rules! - a resource targeted at low level ACSF learners based around Australian Rules football. Used to be available on line at LiteracyNET, but does not seem to be available anymore. Please contact Dave directly for a copy. There were more literacy and numeracy resources included on LiteracyNet, including Eat well, live well; The word on cars; Hands 1: Identity and Hands 2: Community.

Note: Two of these resources are now available free on the Multifangled website at: http://multifangled.com.au/wp/?page_id=74