SUGGESTIONS FOR INTERPRETING EVERYDAY TABLES AND CHARTS
National 2 Mathematics: Personal Mathematics
Suggestions for interpreting everyday tables and charts
Information texts
Suggested approaches and activities
Shop catalogues
Practitioners could provide a
selection of catalogues for the
classroom for frequent use,
including supermarket price
booklets and large store
catalogues.
Shopping on a budget
One approach could be to allocate a given amount that each
learner or group can spend. Learners may look through
catalogues and decide what to buy, remembering to keep
within the budget. Practitioners may specify the number of
items to be bought or create a context where gifts are being
bought for a specified number of people for Christmas or
birthday presents. A table to record items to be purchased
and prices may be useful.
Planning a meal with friends
Learners could work in pairs or small groups to plan a takeaway order. It may be useful to give a limit to what each
person can order, eg a main meal and a dessert , or to set a
maximum price per person.
Learners must work out the total cost of the order and decide
which coins and notes to pay with. They might also consider
which notes would be best to use if they do not have the
exact amount of money. Practitioners may want to extend
learning by asking how much each person will pay if the bill
is shared equally.
Take-away menus
A selection of take-away
menus is useful to simulate
real-life take-away ordering.
Café price lists may also be
used to give a slightly
different context.
Learning intentions
National 2 unit
I can read prices in a
catalogue.
I can compare prices.
I can add up the cost of a
few items using M, P or C.
I can keep within a budget.
I can work out change.
– Personal
Mathematics
– Number and
Number
Processes
– Money
I can read prices on a menu.
I can compare prices.
I can calculate the total cost
of an order using M, P or C.
I can think about how best
to pay when I do not have
the exact money.
I can share a cost between
two or three people.
PERSONAL MATHEMATICS (NATIONAL 2, MATHEMATICS)
© Crown copyright 2012
– Personal
Mathematics
– Number and
Number
Processes
– Money
1
SUGGESTIONS FOR INTERPRETING EVERYDAY TABLES AND CHARTS
Entry Prices
Tourism attraction price tables
can be used to cost trips.
Below are a few useful
websites.
www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/visi
ting/admission
www.seabird.org/buy-ticketsonline.asp
See Planning a day trip in
Chapter 3
Opening and closing times
Some tourist attraction sites
have good examples of
seasonal timetables, e.g.
http://www.lochkatrine.com/ti
metable.html
2
Planning a day trip
Learners could select a destination for a day trip and then
research how much the outing would cost. Guidance on the
make-up of the group would be necessary so that it includes
adults, children and concessions.
Learners could compare the costs of different trips and
decide which trip is the best value for money.
Opening and closing timetables are also useful as they
provide real-life contexts for learners to explore.
Planning an outing
The seasonal opening hours table from the Loch Katrine
website can be used as a resource to discuss seasons, months
and opening times, and to plan imaginary trips. Learners
could work in teams to answer questions on visiting Loch
Katrine in different seasons.
Other similar resources can be found on the internet.
PERSONAL MATHEMATICS (NATIONAL 2, MATHEMATICS)
© Crown copyright 2012
I can use tables to find out
costs.
I can find out total costs.
I can compare costs.
I can read times from a
timetable.
I can use a timetable to plan
ahead.
– Personal
Mathematics
– Number and
Number
Processes
– Money
– Time
I can find a website.
I can talk about seasons,
months and times on a
timetable.
I can answers questions by
using a timetable.
I can use a timetable to plan
ahead.
– Personal
Mathematics
– Number and
Number
Processes
– Money
– Time
SUGGESTIONS FOR INTERPRETING EVERYDAY TABLES AND CHARTS
National 2 Mathematics: Personal Mathematics
Suggestions for communicating information in tables and charts
Context
Suggested approaches and activities
Learning intentions
Using frequency tables
to investigate how
many people regularly
spend their day at our
place of learning.
Learners will need to think about the
different categories of people who
spend their day at their place of
learning. The list may include:
- Learners
- practitioners
- management
- office staff
- building staff
- other professionals.
 I can identify categories for
completing a frequency table.
 I can source information.
 I can complete a table by
filling in numbers correctly.
 I can talk about and compare
the numbers in the table.
 I can use the numbers from a
table to complete an
investigation.
 I can use addition number
skills to solve a problem.
(The context may be
planning a celebration
and finding out how
many people to plan
for. Practitioners may
have a different
scenario that is more
appropriate to their
own learners’
experience.)
Before sourcing the numbers,
practitioners could support learners in
estimating how many people there are
in each category by giving them three
numbers to choose from, as some may
find estimating difficult.
National 2 unit
- Personal
Mathematics
- Number Skills
Practitioners may need to support
learners in thinking about how they
might source numbers for each
category.
PERSONAL MATHEMATICS (NATIONAL 2, MATHEMATICS)
© Crown copyright 2012
3
SUGGESTIONS FOR INTERPRETING EVERYDAY TABLES AND CHARTS
A table can be used to record findings
in the different categories.
Learners can read and compare the
number of people in each category.
Finally, learners will need to calculate
a total using a method that they are
confident in for the number range of
this problem.
Learners could use a table template on
Microsoft Word for this investigation
or they might fill in a copy by hand.
The above idea may be developed for other surveys or investigations. Use tally, frequency tables, pictographs or bar charts to
display results.
Choose the survey population to suit the number range that learners are confident with. Possibly include people at home in the
survey.
Other ideas include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
In which month are most people in your class, year or learning place born?
Who is your favourite X-Factor star?
Who is your favourite sporting hero?
What is your favourite Christmas food?
4
PERSONAL MATHEMATICS (NATIONAL 2, MATHEMATICS)
© Crown copyright 2012