Download Be a Shrewd Chooser:
Be a Shrewd Chooser (1989)
In Be a Shrewd Chooser, students research and provide expert consumer advice for clients in their class.
- Students listen to a radio show on audiotape which contains a number of interviews with people who have just bought different items, and an interview with two students who have been involved in producing a consumer report on choosing orange drinks. As students reflect on and analyse the tape and the report, they begin to consider important factors that are taken into account when making a choice and different methods of making consumer decisions.
- Groups now begin to work on their consumer report. They have to choose an item and decide on their research aims and methods.
- Students develop their plan. They will be involved in conducting surveys, writing questionnaires and carrying out experiments in the classroom. They will also be considering how best to present their findings. This could involve posters and oral presentations in addition to written reports.
- All the written reports are circulated around the other groups, and any group making an oral presentation does so. The reports are evaluated by the rest of the class, and then each group improves its own report taking into account these comments.
The materials comprise a teacher’s guide, a student booklet and a set of photocopy masters.
Unless stated otherwise, these materials are Copyright © Shell Centre for Mathematical Education (see the materials for full details). You may download these materials for personal use and freely repoduce them for non-commercial purposes including teaching, research and staff development within your institution. For other uses, please contact the Bell Burkhardt Daro Shell Centre Trust at publications@mathshell.com for information.
Numeracy Through Problem Solving series
Numeracy Through Problem Solving is a sequence of five modules which develop students' ability to use mathematics together with other skills, in tackling problems of concern or situations of interest in everyday life - the original definition of numeracy in the Cockcroft Report.
Each module is designed to take between 10 and 20 hours to complete. Each provides a theme within which the students take responsibility for planning, organising or designing. They are based around the everyday interests of most students. Students work both individually and in groups and are able to choose which areas of mathematics to deploy. They also implement the results of their own decisions - a vital educational experience!
Although the specific references to GCSE are obsolete, these modules remain a unique resource for developing numeracy skills in engaging contexts across a wide range of ages and abilities.