Queue for the loo. Up to 160 people might have shared a single toilet in a workers’ housing block in Merthyr Tydfil in If everybody spent 2 minutes in the toilet each morning and you had to leave for work by 8 a.m. what time would you need to start queuing to ensure that you left for work on time?

Queue for the loo. 160 x 2 = 320 minutes That’s 5 hours 20 minutes You’d need to get up and start queuing at 2.40 a.m.

NUMERACY in HISTORY

The aim of the National Numeracy Strategy for KS3 is to… Improve accuracy in calculation, measurement and graphical work. Improve interpretation and presentation of graphs, charts and diagrams. Improve reasoning and problem solving.

But what is our aim for numeracy in history? Improve ability to place events and objects in chronological order. Improve interpretation and presentation of graphs, charts and diagrams. Improve interpretation of data.

Some Practical Strategies: Starters and Plenaries. Use Excel. Create and use a database. Encourage calculations in diagrams. Use on-line sources of data. ( Encourage use of correct terminology. Chronology – get in the habit of constantly checking. Quantifiable and unquantifiable information. Introduce the usefulness AND the limitations of data and statistics.

Pupils can use the Domesday database to compare data from different regions and present their findings using graphs and/or tables. Pupils use census data to collect, process, present and interpret data in order to draw conclusions on the similarities and differences between the occupations, wages and weekly budgets of middle-class families locally and nationally. Pupils can collect, process, present and interpret data gathered from war memorials using a variety of techniques including graphs, charts and tables. Pupils research geometry and symmetry of Islamic patterns, the use of zero and the work of al-Khwarizmi (Arab mathematician ).

To keep a mentally ill person costs approximately 4 RM per day, and there are 300,000 mentally ill in care. a. How much do these people cost to keep in total? b. How many marriage loans at 1000RM each could be granted from this money?

Hitler had a membership card for the National Socialist Party. His membership card was number 555. How many people were members of the Party before Hitler?

YORK BORDEAUX It was important for kings to visit all parts of the Empire. If they could travel 50km a day on horseback, how long would it take for a medieval king to travel from York to Bordeaux? 850km Try and solve this medieval problem… Part of the English Empire Key:

Dealing with chronology… 1066 The years 0 – 99 BC were in the 1 st century The years BC were in the 2 nd century

FACT: In 2006 the population of England was 46 times what it was in What might we assume from this fact? What else do we need to know?

1066 – 1,100, – 2,500, – 2,500, – 8,308, – 14,866, ,402, – 35,230, – 50,690,000 The population of the United Kingdom: What does this tell us? What doesn’t it tell us?

PROBLEMS WITH NUMERACY IN HISTORY! Chances are your history class will be extremely mixed ability when it comes to mathematical skills. Therefore the g gg golden rules are: keep actual mathematical problems to a minimum – starters only? calculators always allowed when using data put pupils into pairs or groups always model an answer first try to only use one type of data at a time. never just ‘chuck in’ a graph/data into a collection of sources unless it is completely self-explanatory.