'Introduction to decimals' tutor notes

This module is about reading decimal numbers. It is aimed at Level 1 of the Basic Skills Curriculum in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and covers material in N2/L1.4.

We'd love to hear your comments on the module; do you like the activity and the factsheets? What do you think of the worksheets, and quiz? Send in your own and your students' feedback to skillswise.feedback@bbc.co.uk.

How does this tie in with the new curriculums?

• England
  N2/L1.4 - Read,order and compare decimals up to three decimal places.
  
• Wales
  As England.
• Northern Ireland
  As England.
• Scotland
  See www.aloscotland.com for details of the Scottish curriculum.

In the Skillswise module you'll find:

Comparing numbers activity
In the activity students practise putting numbers in order using place value. All of the numbers are made up of ones and zeros. There are 3 levels; Level A is the easiest and level C the hardest. In Level A there are four numbers to order, Level B has six and Level C, eight. Watch 'How to play' to find out how the game works. At the end of each level students may print out a gamesheet to show their results.
Note: There's a link to the factsheet on place value at the beginning of the activity which students may print out for extra help.

TOP TIP! To see the activity completely full screen, press the F11 key on the keyboard. This takes away the distraction of the top browser bar. To bring the browser bar back, just press F11 again!

To play the activity you will need to have Flash Version 5 plug-in for you browser. If you are not sure just give it a go. If it doesn't work then see the 'Technical help' section below on this page on how to get the Flash plug-in.

Introduction to decimals factsheets
You'll find curriculum references in the top right corner of the factsheets.
There are three factsheets for this module, each on 'print-out-and-keep' sheets:

• Factsheet 1 - Reading and writing decimals numbers
• Factsheet 2 - Place values and place holders
• Factsheet 3 - Comparing and ordering decimals

Introduction to decimals worksheets
There are three worksheets. You'll find curriculum references in the top right hand corner of the worksheets. They are printable resources to carry on the work learners have done online.

• Worksheet 1 - Reading and writing decimals numbers
• Worksheet 2 - Place values and place holders
• Worksheet 3 - Comparing and ordering decimals

Technical help:

If you are new to the web, why not try the BBC WebWise online course, Becoming WebWise? It's free, you can do it in your own time from any computer and it will take you through everything you need to know to use the web successfully in your teaching.
Find out more about WebWise.

You can find out more about the technical requirements for Skillswise in our Help - Technical Information section.

Taking it further:

With Skillswise

• Comparing fractions and decimals or Comparing decimals and percentages.
  

When covering this topic your students might like to try some In the news quizzes which contain questions which involve decimal numbers:

• Take a look at these athletics results from a competition held in Italy in June 2003. Then follow the link to the quiz.
  

With the Web

Here are two news items that refer to decimal numbers.

• Decimal currency fears looks back to 1971 when Britain's currency went decimal.
• Wall Street decimalisation is about the New York stock exchange replacing fractions with cents.

Here is another suggestion of a place on the web you might find useful for teaching scales and distances:

• http://www.mathleague.com/help/decwholeexp/decwholeexp.htm
  The site contains a lot of worked examples which cover most aspects of working with decimals.

Please note that the BBC is not responsible for the content of other websites.

Do you know of any great online resources for decimals? Tell us about them!