HOW TO... to your friend’s house?


• A manufacturer needs to have at least one first aider for every 50 employees. If the company has 127 employees, how many first aiders are needed?


• Mortar for a garden wall needs to be mixed in the ratio 3 parts sand to 1 part cement. If you use 3 shovelfuls of cement, how many shovelfuls of sand do you need?


• During a work experience placement with Somerton Landscaping, Josh was asked to set out a patio. He needed to use the 3:4:5 method to make sure the sides would be square. The site was too small to measure in whole metres. What could he do?


• During the morning shift, a nursing home must have at least one carer for every 5 patients. How many carers are needed to look after 33 patients? An example of embedding maths


in catering might include working out the number of guests and the stafing required; billing; cooking timings; the amount of food and drink required, and managing bookings. When delivering any kind of maths


whether contextualised or not, it’s worth remembering the eight principles for effective teaching identified by Malcolm Swan. • Build on the knowledge learners bring to sessions.


• Expose and discuss common misconceptions.


• Develop effective questioning. • Use cooperative small group work. • Emphasise methods rather than answers.


• Create connections between topics. • Use technology in appropriate ways. • Use collaborative tasks.


The project was delivered by FE Sussex – the consortia of the 12 colleges in Sussex and three additional colleges in Surrey.


REFERENCES • FE Sussex goo.gljjFx9


Andrew Morris (pictured) is an honorary senior lecturer at the UCL Institute of Education and a member of the national planning group of the Learning and Skills Research Network. Andrew was research manager at the former Learning and Skills Development Agency. Contact Andrew at a.j.morris@ucl. ac.uk


...FIND RESEARCH EVIDENCE


By Andrew Morris Looking for research evidence always seemed intimidating to me: too many references, too little time, for instance. But I have found ways to overcome these barriers. Ensure the issue you want to address is specific, not too broad or vague. For instance Eective marking in ESOL for adults rather than marking. Choose the level at which you want to pursue your enquiry:


whole books, individual studies or review articles (which save time). Summaries are increasingly available. Detailed insight into specific practices often comes from small-scale


enquiries by practising teachers. A recent study of numeracy at Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor, for example, explored geometry in roof construction, standard deviation in rail tracks and estimation in holiday costing. Here are some useful starting points:


General internet searching • Standard search engines are useful but unreliable. Google Scholar is worth looking at goo.gl/XW5PU3


• The Digital Educational Resource Archive (DERA) includes useful FE research goo.gl/52xzKo


Reviews and overviews: • The EPPI Centre specialises in systematic reviews goo.glbZOeS • The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) publishes research reports and reviews on education goo.gl/IQYmsY


• Better: Evidence-based Education provides overviews drawing on studies from around the world goo.gl/nGGiKB


Teacher-friendly summaries: • The Education Endowment Foundation toolkit summarises findings of evidence goo.gl7BOuD


• Inside Evidence, on the Excellence Gateway, offers one-page summaries for FE teachers goo.gl/akwiW5


• Best Evidence in Brief gives links to high quality research in a free, fortnightly email goo.glOyrN


Practitioner research: It’s worth looking at Inside Evidence and inTuition, and getting involved in networks. Some colleges have internal groups. You can contact a regional convenor of the Learning and Skills Research Network at goo.gl/Vcq7TJ


NEXT ISSUE


We will be exploring networking in Andrew’s next column.


INTUITION ISSUE 27 • SPRING 2017 21


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