Maths in everyday life

Maths is all around us and this lesson provides three progressive activities to help students to build their number confidence with a focus on money and careers.   

It starts with an open discussion around a variety of true and false statements to get students to share their thoughts and feelings around maths, for example ‘I don’t need to understand percentages to manage my money.”  They then get to look at numbers within managing time, shopping offers, payslips and credit card statements by selecting some answers to questions and discussing their choices. The final activity then selects a range of careers for students to come up with ideas on how maths is used within that job and any money considerations for the case study. 

This lesson has been created in collaboration with National Numeracy, the independent charity whose mission is to empower people to thrive by using numeracy to open up opportunities and access brighter futures, targeting communities where the need is greatest. 

It also features in our financial education scheme of learning for 11-14 year olds. A ready-made sequence of curriculum linked resources to help you build progression in your learners' knowledge over time which aims to also support with your planning. 

Resources 

• Maths in everyday life: Lesson plan and slides – for use with a group of students in the classroom
• Maths in everyday life: Student worksheet – to support students to work through activities
• Maths in everyday life: thermometer poster – can be displayed on a whiteboard or printed out

Key learning outcomes

By the end of these lessons, students will be able to:

• Understand how everybody uses maths in everyday life including money management and work

• Relate how having a good understanding of maths can help future success

• Know how to talk openly about their feelings towards maths