By Angela StoltenbergMath 111/ 12-11-08Project 4

Real Mathematics

All to many times we hear children and teachers complain that mathematics is useless and that they will never use it in the real world.

It is hard for children to connect math to that world. Therefore they feel that is not needed .

Real Mathematics

As teachers we need to prepare students to meet the demands of mathematics and that is does have a connection to the world.

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics States, “ The need to understand and be able to use mathematics in everyday life and in the workplace has never been greater” ( page 4).

Real mathematics is different from the mathematics that children obtain from school.

Schools use textbooks and the chalkboard, although this technique is useful and it will help them deal with situations outside the classroom there are some issues that come up.

An issue is area problems. Most problems are set to the scenario of carpeting or tiling a room, many children become disinterested with the problem because they really don’t care about carpeting a room.

Thus the article says that says that, “ While the task is placed in context, the context is not relevant or of immediate interest to children” ( page 5).

Adding Relevance and Reality to the Mathematics Diet. As teachers we should be

bringing a sense of realism to relevance to the classroom,

However it is not easy, every classroom is different and intertwined in that are the children who are interested in other things also.

Some children find it hard to connect with math or find any meaning that would have relevance to them.

This diagram to the right shows how the mathematical movement sees how math should be taught and looked upon.

Adding Relevance and Reality to the Mathematics Diet. Make sure that when

planning a situation to explore it is going to be interesting and an open ended task. For example investigating patterns and shapes when names are written on a grid.

Ask questions about every aspect of the task they were asked to do. Ask them to predict outcomes and describe stuff.

Open task can be used to help children pose their own questions.

It eventually helps them to investigate thus making it more real to them and then they can connect to it.

Devising activities/ Children's Interests The teacher should

devise a planning chart that he/she feels will be useful and purposeful in the classroom

The article says to devise a chart of activities that have meaningful context and plan your lessons around that.

Discover what your classroom is interested in.

Ask questions , take surveys and hand out questionnaires.

This data taken can be used for mathematical purposes in your classroom.

For example graphing.

Integrated Units of Work

Use mathematics in other learning areas.

For example when measuring growth and change in science or in art when you are learning about symmetry.

When finding out about ourselves you can use math by taking down data.

Even going to the grocery store can act as a math lesson.

Finding teachable moments is very important to a child's education.

Conclusion

Taking down the wall that children and adults have perceived about math is difficult.

Connecting it to real life has only been partially successful but if we continue to connect students to the realness of math we have a better chance of engaging them.

And making sure they use the use the skills they have attained to explore and solve problems.