Too frequently, our kids recognize the value of math after they have graduated from high school.
Five years later, when they’re organizing their finances or putting together furnishings with growing frustration, they suddenly get the significance of what we’ve been harping on about for the last five years.
Here are some making math real exercises to teach learners the value of numbers in their lives outside of the classroom.
Use show-and-tell to explain how math is used outside of the classroom
Maintain a regular round of mathematical show-and-tell in which kids discuss any out-of-class contacts with arithmetic they’ve had during the week. These might include:
• Things they’ve done at home.
• Arithmetic ideas they’ve seen in real-life situations (percentages in advertisements, fractions, and decimals in the newspaper — anything they can discover).
• Daily assignments in which students used their mathematics knowledge (this could be as simple as counting out knives and forks for the dinner table).
The discovery of math in the real world is so much more impactful if it comes from kids themselves, and that’s precisely what this exercise accomplishes.
Create useful resources using math
One of the finest ways to integrate math with the real world is utilising it to build something kids find helpful outside of math class. Consider:
Timetables
Our kids have a lot to plan between music classes, sports, schoolwork, play dates, and family time. Show them how to split the day’s hours and set aside time for each obligation.
Setting objectives
Another chance to utilise statistics is to set specific and measurable objectives. Students might even make graphs to measure their progress toward completion.
These might be academic or cocurricular
Personal budget planners
With many middle and high school kids managing bank accounts, part-time jobs, and phone plans, acquiring financial literacy is another chance to apply arithmetic in a real-world context.
You may do the same with younger children by establishing a class currency (also good as a behavioural reward) that they can exchange for products in a “class store.”
Creating a real-world resource that kids may utilize demonstrates the importance of math outside of the classroom. Your kids will be considerably more motivated to improve their numerical abilities once they realize it isn’t limited to textbooks and tests.
Make real-world math homework assignments
Homework is an excellent opportunity to teach math for real-world applications. After all, students use mathematical reasoning outside of school hours and in non-classroom settings. They’ve arrived in the “real world.”
Nonetheless, we frequently persist in assigning homework that is essentially a continuation of classroom activity. Finish the worksheet, answer the textbook review questions, and move on to the next chapter… You get the idea.
Why not use the home environment to engage students in the mathematical concepts that enable a home to function? Here are a few suggestions:
• Make a grocery budget for the week. Students may utilize online shopping catalogues to plan everything out down to the pennies!
• Follow a recipe.
• Counting and measuring household things is a basic exercise that helps younger pupils see the numerical aspects of their actual surroundings.