Sharing Teaching Ideas: Career Posters

After teaching high school mathematics for many years I found the perfect way to respond to the students' question, “How are we ever going to use this in the real world?” Two or three weeks into the school year I ask each student to make a career poster. The student must interview someone who uses mathematics in his or her job and write down an actual problem that person would have to solve as well as a paragraph explaining the problem. Most students think that they don't know anyone who uses mathematics at work, including parents, relatives, or neighbors. Usually they come back the next day to report, to their surprise, that their parents use mathematics! This discovery is a revelation to them.