The way we teach math does not often emphasize its usefulness to students. Because the utility value of mathematics, as perceived by students, has been found to be a strong predictor of enrollment in elective math courses in high school, it is important that we stress the ways math can be used while we teach math skills. Both male and female students who perceived math as useful to them were more likely to persist in its study. In a study of senior honors English students, very few could think of a way that they currently use mathematics in their daily lives. The following suggestions should give you some ideas about how you can introduce more information about math usefulness, while still using class time to teach math skills and concepts.
Strategies Stress real-life problems in math.
Search your classroom environment for math-related problems that are relevant to students' immediate lives and needs. For example, figure the percentage of students who choose each leisure activity as their favorite. Determine the average number of writing implements in each desk or the number of minutes available for each student at the computer, given the number of students, computers, and computer time. Or, compute the average number of minutes students spend sleeping, watching television, or at school. Select a group of lunch preference counters who collect data for the class to make graphs of daily and weekly hot lunch eating patterns, and possibly even determine the cafeteria's best meals.