Real Math

Through the ages students have complained their courses don't have anything to do with real life.. that they were irrelevant and boring.

In Bill Ratliff's Assignment: Education.. we're going to show you how one Hillsborough Fifth Grade teacher is showing her students how math can be not only useful.. but fun, as well.

--[Teacher Jann Van Dyke says:] "Now in math we have been computing area and perimeter."--

Oh boy.. sounds pretty dry. But when you look at these Tinker Elementary students.. you can see they're into. There's a reason.

--[Van Dyke says:] "Who can explain what our family business is? I didn't tell you for a longtime."--

Jann Van Dyke and her family are launching a skateboard business in Bloomingdale.. And she is having her students help design the store.. as a way of teaching them geometry and spacial sense.

--[Girl says:] "Rectangle." --

To make the lessons a real life experience, Van Dyke took her class to the store site. Using rulers, tape measurers and newspapers laid out on the floor as furniture props... the students were able to see if their floor plan was actually do-able. Van Dyke wanted her students to experience problem solving and first and foremost..

--[ Van Dyke says:] "The goal is to get children to realize that math is something we need in our lives.. something we have to learn and it can be fun and exciting."--

Based on what some of the students told us.. it was a lesson learned.

--[Student Christina Williams says:] "I kind've learned a lot about perimeter because I had trouble in perimeter and volume.. cause we're just learning volume."--

But they also learned something else.. starting a business requires the help of a lot of people.. and that problems can be solved through teamwork.

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