Parents Share How Math Relates to Real World
March 28th, 2019
“Sixth grade math is something that you will use for the rest of your life.” says middle school math teacher and grade chair Laura Siron. Siron and fellow middle school math teacher Tracey Greene drive home this point with their students on a regular basis. Whether their students realize it or not, the fractions, decimals, percentages, rates, proportions, and algebra that they learn in middle school will be used no matter what career path they end up choosing.
“Sixth grade math is something that you will use for the rest of your life.” says middle school math teacher and grade chair Laura Siron. Siron and fellow middle school math teacher Tracey Greene drive home this point with their students on a regular basis. Whether their students realize it or not, the fractions, decimals, percentages, rates, proportions, and algebra that they learn in middle school will be used no matter what career path they end up choosing.
To show the students how this true, Siron and Greene have made a habit of bringing in parents to share their real-life experiences using math in their chosen occupation.
Siron has brought in a dentist, who talked about running a business, doing payroll, and budgeting, as well as an entrepreneur who spoke to the students about combining their artistic side with their business sense. Siron has also brought in her sister who does a math exercise involving her electric car. The students calculate the proportions and rates of energy used to travel, and then must plan a trip to Washington D.C. in the electric car. The tricky part is understanding where the charging stations are along the way and how long it takes to use them.
Greene has hosted a wide range of business executives that have been able to translate their business practices into practical sixth grade fundamental math skills. One guest speaker brought in an example of a profit/loss statement and had the students calculate the bottom-line revenue. Another speaker related the cost and benefit of deciding whether to work at one of two Home Depot locations. The students had to calculate commute times and salary differences to find out which job was the better opportunity.
Greene reflected, “my students hear me say all the time, ‘We are going to study this because this is something you will use for the rest of your life.’ When parents come in and show them how they will use math and why it’s important to learn it, the students are more excited to sit down and figure out how to do some of these problems.”
