Real World Math Applications

Math in the real world teacher hands on 

Our “Real World” pilot, introduced in 2022-23, was an innovative pilot designed to engage students who may not see the relevance in the math concepts they are learning. 

Have you ever heard a student say “When will I ever use this?”  Most teachers struggle to connect concepts back to the real world to answer this question. Our pilot project engaged six math teachers, one school counselor, and 2 businesses to answer this question. Our educators started their journey by visiting LogiSync, our Internet of Things (IoT) partner.  The group heard from several employees who work on real life projects as they create the software, hardware, or both for companies who are bringing products to market.  The group learned about the company, and overview of the IoT field, and then 3 employees shared how they use math in the real world in their jobs each day.  

The group visited AJ Rose Manufacturing next.  AJ Rose is a metal stamping company that predominantly makes auto parts for cars.  As parts are formed from rolls of raw metal, the metal is stamped using thousands of pounds of tonnage.  A part may take only a few stamps, or many.  Each time the part is stamped, the part takes a closer form to the finished product.  Both Jay and Jack Rose presented several math concepts they use at the plant following a tour of the factory.  One station the group saw was a wire EDM machine.  The wire EDM machine cuts metal using an electrified very thin piece of metal.  The metal gently slides along the edge of a piece of metal that is typically 2” think and around 2’ x 2 in dimensions.  This final die will serve as the base so that as metal is pressed into it, the part is formed.  The tour guide explained how these dies cannot be purchased, but must be fabricated.  The wire EDM machine cuts the metal to the exact dimensions.  How could this example be used to help students understand a concept they use in the real world?  Cartesian Coordinates is the answer.  For each of the three examples, our teachers had an activity to learn about the concept, and to give them a manipulative to take back to the classroom. For this example, we told the educators that the wire EDM machine was broken, but they needed to form the die.  We used a 2’ x 2’ piece of foam insulation for the activity. A bicycle brake cable was then given to each group to use as a saw. Before they could cut out the die, each group had to mark the top and bottom of the 2’ x 2’ foam die using cartesian coordinates.  Once they marked both sides, it took the team to hold the die while two other members sawed the foam back and forth to form the die!  We have used this video to demonstrate the power of collaboration with our businesses as we help educators understand how concepts we teach in school can be applied to the real world!