Do we even use math in the real world?

I remember asking my teachers when we would use the math we were learning in our lives. The answer was usually to take next year's math or to know how much carpet to buy. Carpet to buy? I was pretty sure I would never install my own carpet and next year was so far away it might as well be a million years from now.

As a student learning math was the worst, I never was given a reason why.

Without a why I wasn't interested in learning it.

Rothfus and Munoz on gun 2

I was 19 when I was shown how math was used in the real world. Jon Recor patiently sat with me for countless hours teaching me how to use actual math to run the mortars. It was a lot of different types of math we had to calculate quickly and with 100% accuracy. If it wasn't perfect unfortunate things happen.

This was the first time in my life that I understood math to this degree, I had a why. Having a why is critical to long term learning.

How can we give our kids a why for math now so they don't have to wait for some desert classroom?

Dan Meyers

Dan created the idea of 3 Act Math and linked to a bunch of activities to show how math might be used in the actual world. Not every math type is represented but working some of the problems helps to start making a connection. Click into the activities to find all the information. The formula to create a 3 Act Math problem is somewhat simple, I wonder what the kids could come up with if you turned them loose. How could they create some 3 Act Math problems for their classmates in other hours?

On his page he lists a number of PBL math problems. These are worth checking out as well.

Edutopia

There are a TON of great articles on edutopia, this one is a good read about helping kids see math concepts as relevant.

Comments

Like your ELMO but with an iPad (elementary classroom teachers)

I used AirServer to create the infinity mirror effect. We were in a meeting today and Dominic told us about this fantastic idea. As we discussed all things technology he explained one method of using the iPad as a portable ELMO. It was too cool not to share. Step 1 Make sure you have AirServer running on your laptop. 1. Click the Windows key on your keyboard or click the icon in the lower left of your screen. 2. Just start typing AirServer. 3. Click AirServer. Don't see it? Contact technology or your building tech person. Step 2 Connect your teacher iPad to your laptop. 1. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen. Start by swiping in the bezel, the black plastic part surrounding the screen. 2. Click AirPlay Mirroring. 3. Click your name. Step 3 Open the camera app and instant portable ELMO! Anything you see in the camera's len will be broadcast to the big screen. I just used this method to take a picture of my notebook as a demonstration of how co

Who is emailing me? The Blue Man Group??? (Add an image to your Google account.)

WHY It is always nice to put a face with a name. Sometimes we need a tiny little reminder of what someone looks like because we don't see them very often. Follow these steps to add/change the image associated with your Google account. HOW Open your email. Click your image. It might just be a blue circle if you have not added something already. Click Change . Find an image you like. Your amazing new image will appear. From now on everyone can put a name to a face!

Annotate PDF? How might I do that?

So I have a PDF and I need to edit it. Here is one method that works pretty well for me. Open Word. Click File . 1. Click Open . 2. Click Browse . 3. Find the PDF you want to annotate. 4. Click Open . Click OK when you see this box. Bam! Your PDF now opens in Word. Note: you maybe have to click Enable Editing at the top of the screen. Finished editing and want to turn it back into a PDF? Click File . 1. Click Save As . 2. Click This PC . 3. Pick a location. I usually save things to my desktop. 4. Click Save as type - and choose PDF. 5. Click Save .

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