Instance Relevance: Running Math

My students know I'm a "runner." 🏃🏽‍♀️ Their first question is usually, did you win? Then I explain them that I run to compete against myself not others, because there is no chance that I could win. 🐢 However, this fact always sparks conversation about goal setting, perseverance and struggle. This time I decided to give it a content twist, since we are starting our measurement unit I used it as the lesson hook.

I wrote few numbers in the board and told them they were related to my Saturday run. I asked them to figure out what they meant. They numbers were 4.01, 43, 356, 10. We brainstormed what could those numbers represent, they came up with distance and time. So we started there, figuring out which one would represent distance, after some discussion about inches, feet and yards, they decided the best unit was miles and 43 miles seemed too much. After a while, they found out I ran 4.01 miles. Then they figured out that minutes will be the best for the time, so 43 min sounded reasonable. Next, we talked about how if we rounded the distance and divided by the time, we would find the miles per minute. I informed them that the remaining number represented the calories. The conversation led to discussing why would people need to measure things, student's answers were very interesting: take note, plan, analyze, compare.

Our next step is to create math problems using my running stats. The kids were excited about it, they brainstormed which kind of questions they can create some of their ideas included add and subtract distance, find elapsed time, etc. I am eager to see what they come up with. The conversation itself demonstrated a novel level of interest and engagement, I'm very pleased with the results so far.

Running Math #makeitreal #mesqir209 #teacherlife #math #relevance