Tying It All Together....(Week 6--Math 1510)

We've all done it...sat through something, paid attention oh-so-carefully, and then failed miserably at understanding it. I'm wrapping up my courses online and trying to review a lot of the stuff that I have learned. I come across a certain problem and think, did we learn that this semester? I know, it's definitely something my instructor would want to hear and it is definitely not something I want my future students to say. The question I have to ask myself is how am I going to tie it all together?

I read suggested articles about how students learn best, how they understood mathematical concepts, and even recalled some things in my psychology class about their schema. I also thought about how I learned best throughout this course. I applied what I was learning to real-life situations. I thought of different scenarios that I would use mathematical concepts...and it was all around me! Ice Road Truckers is a TV show that I watch that talks about the different grades and angles of hills and bridges. It talks about timing and speed. I had to figure out percentages for tipping while trying to plan a budget for our wedding in August.

So, I have to ask myself, what are things my future students can relate to? Humor! For my other math course (Math 1512), I had to create cartoons including math concepts. Hooray, I'm going to use what I learned in class in real life! I can take the cartoon I created for a different course and use it in real life to show students how they will use math in real life. Sounds pretty twisted, huh? But it works! Here's my best example for why students will need to know math after their school career:

I am going to emphasize to my students that you will use math outside of school--they just don't know it yet. You never realize you are using math unless you don't know how to do it. I didn't realize how much geometry I've been using this summer trying to remodel our house! Maybe my fiance should jump online and take a refresher course. I don't want to admit it (especially to my future students) but if all else fails, technology can help you out in a pinch. This home improvement calculator has come in handy this summer!