Vocational and Mathematical Knowledge: Designing Hybrid Literacy Tasks in the Context of Food Security

Abstract

Mathematical literacy in vocational contexts requires instructional tasks that effectively bridge academic content with job-specific knowledge. This case study examines the design and impact of hybrid literacy tasks—integrating national food policy narratives with exponential number problems—within the context of food security for agribusiness vocational high school students. Using a case study design involving students and teachers from an Indonesian agribusiness vocational school, data were collected through Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), student worksheets, and pre-test and post-tests. FGDs established a functional framework connecting food security elements to mathematical content and essential work skills. The study found that the hybrid task design successfully facilitated students' reasoning by establishing the context as a source of analogy, which encouraged imitative reasoning (identifying similarities) to solve subsequent, more complex problems. This experience significantly improved students' computational fluency in representing large numbers using various power forms, a key vocational skill for food security analysis. The intervention resulted in a high average n-gain score in mathematics learning. The research demonstrates a practical model for bridging vocational and mathematical knowledge through transdisciplinary hybrid task design. The findings suggest that educational practices in vocational settings should leverage vocational contexts as functional mechanisms—not mere settings—to cultivate mathematical literacy and computational work skills.