Mathematics in the Real World
The Mendel project is routinely assigned in high school classes for the study of genetics...
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The Mendel project is routinely assigned in high school classes for the study of genetics. Students are asked to look at their peers and families for the presence of a widow's peak, for instance. Usually, the pool of subjects at hand is fairly small so compiling math statistics doesn't work so well. The existence of telecommunications, however, allows students to collect info from sufficiently large numbers to draw authentic conclusions and get a better taste for the unresolved issues in this field. And sites like MendelWeb's Statistics Calculation Page allows students to quickly calculate results from a large pool of data.
Monster Math for grades K-3 presents puzzles in a story format and the contents are in both English and Spanish--a friendly way to help these youngest students to transition from Spanish to English.
The Thinking Fountain in the Minnesota Science Museum offers a variety of brainteasers, not just in math.
Mathematics with Alice, a ThinkQuest entry, has adopted Alice in Wonderland as a guide for algebra and soon other topics. Presentation of the content is definitely motivating and the content itself is very clear and accurate. Naturally, the librarian of this K12IMC site is pleased to find a colleague on the Web.
The National Math Trail, sponsored by the Star Schools project, facilitates student collections of photographs which illustrate math in the community (e.g. building projects, liquid volume of geographical features). These photos are mounted on the Web for the whole world to see!
Annotation
These sites overcome the hazards of only teaching single subject skills. Some approaches to problem-solving are driven by particular subjects, while others are inter-disciplinary. In any case, math skills are so fundamental that it deserves at least a dialogue.
For many students this skill inspires fear but a good coordinated curriculum, recognizing overlap and particularity, can help overcome these barriers.
