How to Use Real Life Applications of Math To Get Your Students Thinking Critically

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Let me guess…

Your administrators are telling you that you need to start assessing your students on “21st century skills” and adding real life applications of math, but you’re frustrated because that means you need to change so much of your already created curriculum. Sound familiar?

Adding in completely new content and objectives can feel SUPER overwhelming, but I want to simplify that process for you. I’m sharing this list of simple ideas with you so that you can start slowly integrating real world applications into your own math classroom.

Let’s talk about real life applications of math

You may already know the benefits of real world applications, but I wanted to share some highlights with you…

Students develop essential problem solving skills
Word problems are a great opportunity for peer to peer collaboration
With practice, your students will build stronger independence and autonomy

Want to know more about the benefits of real life applications of math? Check out this blog post!

So how can I easily add word problems to my day to day routine?

Whole class modeling

Use guided notes with word problems to model critical thinking skills and problem solving. I am obsessed with these guided notes for writing and graphing functions! The students use tables and graphs to understand growth rates of plants and make predictions based on the slope.
Relating math to relevant topics that students will actually use in real life keeps them engaged and makes the math feel more important.

Small group

Group work is my favorite way to add real life applications to my math classroom! My students benefit so much from working together and leaning on each other rather than me to help them solve the problems.

You can assign word problems in supplemental activities, introduction or discovery activities, and as projects!

Check out one of my favorite real world activities for linear equations! It only takes two class periods to complete and gives your students some ownership of their learning. Even my most unmotivated students LOVE this activity.

Independent

Once your students are warmed up to real life applications and more confident in their problem solving, they will be able to start working independently!

Use exit tickets or warm ups to quickly assess your students on their problem solving skills. Only asking one or two questions will give you a quick idea of what they understand and starts to build routines of critical thinking. Not to mention, only one or two problems is much less intimidating than an entire project! These grab and go writing prompts could be the perfect start to your math application journey. Get them for free here!
You can also assign short formative assessments (like the one I shared above) to lower the stakes and get your students acquainted to the idea of real world applications.

Final tip!

Practice is key! The more you use real life applications in your math classroom, the easier it will get for you and your students!

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