WVTC Students Get Practical With Maths

Wolverhampton Vocational Training Centre  are piloting a portfolio-based Level 3 Mathematics course based on units from OCN West Midland’s suite of qualifications.

The course fills a gap for those learners who prefer to demonstrate their ability through a series of assessed tasks and observations rather than a final exam. The course is bespoke with the emphasis on applying the theory to very practical or vocational contexts; recently learners have built a calculator to use on the iPad to work out angles and sloping lengths based on timber height and widths using trigonometric functions.

This has been facilitated by our own carpentry department with advice from the vocational tutor in regard to truss structures within the construction trade. Carpenters often use “rule of thumb” to construct a template to use says tutor, Paul Tucker. What the learners have made is something that could be used quite quickly to establish sizes for sloping sides and angles of cut.

We hope to get full feedback back from our learners and will give an update and overview on the programme upon completion.