Finding Real-World Math Problems

§ August 2nd, 2011 § 4 Comments- Add yours§ Filed under From the Elevated Math Team, Teaching Math § Tagged Application, David Wees, Elevated Math, eSchool News, insurgent attacks, Jo Boaler, Lewis Hall, Monty Python, NPR, quadratic functions, real-world, relevancy, sat, statistics, what's math got to do with it

Photography by Michael Gil

First in the list of things that students say they want from education, according to eSchool News, is “real-world application and relevancy.” When it comes to math education finding these real-world examples seems more of a challenge. I tried myself to find some, was stumped, and had to go back through the Elevated Math lessons to find problems that kids might find relevant. Next, I searched into my own life to find some more. And then, after my consciousness was alert to this task, all sorts of ideas began to surface.

I was reminded of a time when my daughter was young. With her strapped to a car seat in Los Angeles’ rush-hour traffic, we filled the time with a game. The objective § Read the rest of this entry…