Focus on equivalent fractions, rounding, and some questions embedding the four functions including with whole numbers and one or two decimal number questions in familiar contexts. No answers as yet but I might write a set out.

Download a one side pdf worksheet with 30 quick fire non calculator number questions and numerical answers.

Questions include the four functions with whole numbers and decimal numbers, a few fractions questions including adding related ‘family’ fractions, percentages and fraction conversion, some ratio and rounding and a few problem questions. Designed as a sort of ‘speed trial’.

Link to Web page that displays a random selection of 10 of the 20 questions.

There is a time limit of 20 minutes on the 10 questions just so my Numeracy students can get used to working against the clock. They can still answer the questions and get feedback after the 20 minutes, just no percentage score.

You can download the Web page and use it on your computer, a shared drive, an intranet or just off a USB stick.

When the Web page opens in Microsoft Internet Explorer, you might get a security warning about ‘scripts and ActiveX content’. Just click on the yellow bar that appears in the Web page, and select ‘allow blocked content’. Don’t click on the ‘X’ at the end of the yellow bar! This warning occurs because the quiz is produced using the excellent Hot Potatoes quiz package, which produces JavaScript code that makes the quiz work. Microsoft Internet Explorer detects the JavaScript program and warns you.

I used the OpenOffice ‘note’ tool to add the answers to the quiz questions. Notes are annotations on the text that appear linked to a word or phrase on the right hand side of the document. You can make them invisible for printing a clean copy. The notes survived export to Word Doc format as well. In Word, you select View | Mark Up to ‘toggle’ the visibility of notes.

Download PDF file containing a one side worksheet with 28 questions covering the four functions, writing numbers from words and rounding. Numerical answers on the sheet.

The graphic above (taken on my little Fuji compact digital camera in macro mode) shows my check answer for the long multiplication. I had to actually calculate the answer as my calculator does not have enough places. I think I’ll do the lattice multiplication version as a YouTube as I have not yet seen a really long multiplication demonstrated using the lattice method.

Part of the 20 minutes e-learning project.

Part of the 20 minutes project, written on the way in on the train.

Language raises its ugly head: In the quiz, the ‘value of the digit 5’ in the number (say 75 892) is taken as 5000. A question like ‘what is the hundreds digit in 12 759?’ has the answer 7, and one of the distractors is 700. A question like ‘how many tens are there in 197’ has the correct answer 19, and 9 is a distractor. You might want to alter the JQZ file to reflect the language you use in this topic. I’m prepared to admit that writing these questions caused me to think carefully about the words I was using.

Part of my 20 Minutes a Day e-learning project, although exporting, checking and uploading added a little longer.

An example of 20 minutes a day e-learning but actually took 35 minutes because of the need to help a colleague switch a projector from Video mode back to Computer mode. C’est la vie. I am also complying with the generous Hot Potatoes licence, in that I’m making the test available on a public Web site.

The reverse questions help understanding I find. Adult students want to know the reasoning behind the methods.

You can also download the JCW file for the crossword. This file was produced using Java Hot Potatoes 6.02.5 on Mac OS X.

Data handling has a lot of words and the words can sometimes be different in different textbooks. Crosswords help to keep the meanings straight. The ‘hint’ function could be disabled.

I’ve just realised that this post occurs after the longest period of not posting in about 4 years. Strange to relate there is no special reason – just a bad cold and the Christmas holidays being longer than usual because of the calendar.