Cover lesson · English · Year 8 · Intermediate
LNF: Numeracy → Learning that statistics represent data and that probability models chance helps us make informed inferences and decisions → Interpreting data
Name: Class: Date:
What this practises: reading and testing the numbers in a non-continuous text (a leaflet with a bar chart and a table). This is Key Stage 3 groundwork for GCSE English Language and Literature Unit 3: Influence and Power, Section 3.2 and Task A, where pupils discuss how texts influence their readers and must refer to at least one non-continuous text, such as an infographic, chart or leaflet. Practice only, not NEA work. The leaflet and its figures are invented.
Print: this sheet, one per pupil, and the stimulus sheet “Our beach is drowning in plastic”, one between two. Pupils need a calculator and a ruler for Steps 2 to 4. No computers are needed. If you are in a computer room, the figures are also in penrhyn-llwyd-beach-litter-counts.csv.
Run: 5 min pupils read the leaflet in pairs · 7 min Step 1, reading the chart and table · 8 min Step 2, fractions and percentages · 12 min Step 3, checking the claims · 8 min Step 4, the chart’s scale · 12 min Step 5, the paragraph and the fair claim. Total 52 minutes.
Collect: this sheet.
Quick checks: in Step 2, 96 ÷ 240 = 40%, 84 ÷ 240 = 35% and 180 ÷ 240 = 75%. In Step 3, two claims are supported (three quarters plastic, more than 1 in 3 wrappers), two are not (cans went from 20 to 30, which is not double; bottles are 40%, which is not “most”), and the “rocketing” chart is only partly supported. In Step 4 the 2025 bar is drawn 13 times as tall as the 2021 bar, but there are only a third more bottles. All answers are in the worked example.
A volunteer group wants more people to help clean its beach. Its leaflet uses big numbers and bold words to make you care. Some of its claims are true. Some are not. You will read the chart and the table, turn fractions into percentages, check every claim against the group’s own data, find out how the chart tricks the eye, and then write about how the leaflet uses numbers to persuade.
Key words:
(a) How many plastic bottles were found in 2023?
(b) In which year were more than 85 bottles found for the first time?
(c) What was the total number of items found in 2021? In 2025?
(d) Which two types of litter went down between 2021 and 2025?
(e) What number does the vertical axis of the chart start at?
(a) To turn a fraction into a percentage, divide the top number by the bottom number, then multiply by 100. Give answers to one decimal place where you need to.
| Fraction | 1/2 | 1/3 | 3/4 | 2/5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percentage |
(b) Use the 2025 column of the table. Work out each number as a percentage of the 2025 total of 240.
| Type of litter in 2025 | Number | Working | % of all 240 items |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plastic bottles | |||
| Crisp and sweet wrappers | |||
| All plastic (bottles + wrappers) | |||
| Cans |
For each claim, write the numbers you used and your working. Then decide: supported, partly supported or not supported by the data. Use 2025 unless the claim names another year.
| Claim in the leaflet | Numbers and working | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| 1. “Three quarters of the litter we find is plastic.” | ||
| 2. “Most of it is plastic bottles.” | ||
| 3. “Plastic bottles are ROCKETING!” | ||
| 4. “The number of cans on our beach has DOUBLED since 2021.” | ||
| 5. “More than 1 in 3 of the things we pick up is a crisp or sweet wrapper.” |
(a) The vertical axis starts at 70. So the 2021 bar only shows the 2 bottles above 70 (72 − 70 = 2). How many bottles above 70 does the 2025 bar show? How many times as tall as the 2021 bar is the 2025 bar drawn?
(b) Now the real numbers. How many times as many bottles were found in 2025 as in 2021 (96 ÷ 72)? What is the real rise, as a number and as a percentage of 72?
(c) Draw an honest chart in the box with the axis starting at 0. Use a ruler and let 1 cm stand for 10 bottles. Draw only the 2021 and 2025 bars and label them.
(d) In two sentences, explain how the leaflet’s chart changes the impression the reader gets.
(a) Write a paragraph of about 120 to 150 words answering: How does the leaflet use numbers to persuade its reader? Look at the words around the numbers too, such as “DROWNING”, “shocking”, “ROCKETING” and “DOUBLED”. Include at least one claim that is true and at least one that is not, with a figure from your working.
Sentence starters: The leaflet uses numbers to … For example, it claims … The data shows … This persuades the reader because … However, …
(b) Choose one claim that is not supported. Rewrite it so that it is true but still makes people want to help. Use 20 words or fewer.