I love asking my students questions such as the one in the title. The answer can be found on a wonderful website called Get the Math. Don't just get the math - grab it! Once you start using the materials from this wonderful website, you will understand why it is one of my favorites. Oh, maybe you're wondering where the link is to the awesome goodness that is Get the Math...Get the Math offers excellent representations of using math in the real world. As a true fan of Project Runway, the lesson with Chloe Dao - who won season two - is one of my go to lessons from this website. Her lesson focuses on how fashion designers use math to design clothing for different sizes. It starts with an introductory video about Dao and ends with a challenge. Students have to calculate the costs of manufacturing a design that will have a 220% markup. To plan for this lesson, I picked up a few inexpensive t-shirts from a discount retailer. I rearranged the desks so students could work in groups to complete the challenge. The kids had a lot of fun and learned at the same time.
To extend the lesson, students could design their own simple t-shirts and set a price for them. They would have to research the cost of the t-shirt as well the cost for printing images or adding embellishments. Their mark-up would have to be a certain percentage. In my classes, they would meet in small groups with their finished products. Each group would present one t-shirt to display and explain why they chose it.
I love Get the Math because it offers real-world math connections along with inspiration for project-based learning. This is a win-win in my view. The diversity of the lessons gives teachers the opportunity to reach the interest levels of all students. Hopefully, you'll find it useful as well.
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