Everyday Math
John Titanic
In this entertaining and interactive math activity students are encouraged to solve
everyday problems dealing with time and money. The purpose of this activity is to allow students
the opportunity to practice their grade 4 math skills while also showing them that these skills are
useful tools that can be applied to everyday situations. This activity highlights math’s relevance.
To ensure this activity has this effect, I chose for the main character in the video to have a
common job and a set of interests (hockey and traveling) which might be shared by some
student’s parents. Furthermore, the everyday math problems deal with time and money, two
numerical concepts grade 4 students are likely to be familiar with.
This video provides teachers with a great deal of flexibility and many options when using
it. For example, because video is so accessible, this resource can be used in class for many
students or assigned for individual study. Also, the video can be played once so that students
gain an understanding of its content and the types of questions that will be asked, then played
again so they can focus in on the digits required to solve the equation. As a teacher using this
resource, I would likely write those digits down onto the board as they are being presented to
make them more accessible for all students. When the teacher, viewer, or facilitator of this lesson
is prompted to “*pause video for discussion*”, students can be lead through discussing a variety
of possible solutions to the problem. If I was using this resource in my class, I would pause the
the video when prompted and discuss the problem as a class to ensure a clear understanding, then
ask students to work independently or with a partner to come up with a possible solution.
Following that, I would ask students to discuss their solutions with their neighbor as a class.
Great educational value is added to this learning activity by watching and interacting with it as a
class. For by doing this, students can gain an understanding of how their classmates thought
about the content, introducing them to ideas they potentially had not yet thought of.
Furthermore, I am confident that many students would be eager to share their responses to the
questions that ask them to create a budget and write down their morning routine. These questions
allow for the students to personalize this activity thus making the material more relevant to
themselves.
This learning activity is designed for grade 4 students and addresses a number of
curricular objectives in the BC’s grade 4 math curriculum. One such curricular objective which
directs teachers to lead students in using “addition and subtraction in real life contexts and
problem based situations” (BC’s New Curriculum) is addressed throughout the video. Students
are given real life math problems that deal with time and money which they are likely to
encounter throughout their lives. Secondly, the curricular objective “use multiplication and
division in real life context and problem based situations” (BC’s New Curriculum) is addressed
in the question that asks students to calculate Ryan’s savings over and entire year. This question
encourages them to think about different forms of multiplication while also suggesting the use of
repeated addition. This type of guidance in a thought provoking question addresses a portion of
the the BC curricular objective which requests students begin “using flexible commutative
strategies (eg. decomposing, distributive principles, commutative principles, repeated addition
and repeated subtractions)” (BC’s New Curriculum). Although no new skills are necessarily
taught in this learning activity, it does provide students with an opportunity to practice the skills
they have in a relative and realistic way.
To assess student engagement and success with this learning activity I would recommend
observing the diversity amongst student’s responses to the video prompts. The questions in this
video allow for flexibility in the student’s answers so by observing how a student aims to solve
the problem a teacher can gauge how the student is interacting with the curricular objectives.
Also, the two questions which ask students to relate the material to their own lives, allow the
teacher to identify to what extent the students understand the concepts of time and money
management. In order to obtain the most from this learning activity, I suggest that teachers assess
open communication by way of facilitating class discussion as well as submitted written answers
to encourage independent thought.
I was inspired to make a video because I find them to be a captivating means of telling a
story or presenting information. The use of video in the classroom can be an exciting and
imaginative alternative to reading text or a teacher’s explanation. I feel video has the ability to
capture a student’s attention and therefore they are likely to be engaged in the material being
presented. Furthermore, video can be easily accessed online by both teachers who require
learning material and student who require additional resources at home. As the creator of such a
resource, it would be easy to continue this series of videos so that students could be introduced to
a variety of different math scenarios with a common theme. I very much enjoy creating videos
for both personal and professional projects. I find them to be a very rewarding and useful
creative outlet. If I found this video to be an effective means for engaging students with math, I
would be happy to make more.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eW9ih8iuMA7XMEjFZ-osmT3nnq02ErJT/view