Mathematics teaching materials

Produce a Quiz Show
Numeracy Through Problem Solving

Written by Malcolm Swan, Barbara Binns and John Gillespie with Hugh Burkhardt and the Shell Centre Team. Published by Shell Centre & Longman 1987 - 1989.

The box contains - a Teachers' Guide, 25 Students' Booklets, Photocopying masters, Sample materials.
Price in UK pounds: £25.

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, which was reinforced by the Cockcroft Report.

In Produce a Quiz Show students devise, schedule, run and evaluate their own classroom quizzes. This involves preparing, timing and testing questions using number and statistical concepts, planning room layouts, and scoring systems.

• Groups of students take it in turns to act out a number of quizzes, devised by someone else, and comment on faults and shortcomings in the organisation, rules, questions, scoring systems and presentation.
• Students share ideas for their own quiz, reach agreement on which to develop, and draw up a plan of action.
• Each group prepares, tests and organises its questions, scoring systems, rules and final running order. Groups also decide how the furniture and equipment will be arranged during the presentation of the show.
• Groups take it in turns to present their quizzes to the rest of the class. Afterwards, each quiz is evaluated first by other members of the class, and then by the group who produced it. A further opportunity may be given for a group to enact their quiz with different groups of contestants - perhaps a different class.

The five modules have all been designed for pupils of all abilities to complement the GCSE Mathematics curriculum for 16 year olds in England and Wales. 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!

Students' Booklets (5 copies).
Price in UK pounds: £10.

Here is a sample page.