NCTM New Orleans - Real World Math

Copyright © 2009, Facing the Future
Real World Math:
Engaging Students through
Global Issues
Dave Wilton
Assistant Outreach Director
www.facingthefuture.org
CriticalThinking. Global Perspective. Informed Action.

Agenda
Your Visions
Who is Facing the Future?
Why Real World Math?
From the Teacher Perspective
From the Student Perspective
Ask Questions & Share Throughout
Reward for Your Patience

About Facing the Future
 Seattle-based nonprofit
founded in 1995
 Interdisciplinary global
issues and sustainability
curriculum for K-12
 Over 1.5 million students
reached annually
 All 50 U.S. states and over
100 countries
 Professional development
and consulting

The Global Wombat
http://www.globalcommunity.org/flash/wombat.shtml

Defining Global Issues
 Have Significant Impacts
 Are Trans-boundary
 Are Persistent
 Are Interconnected

 I’m Curious
 I Have an Opinion
 I Want to Share It
 I Want to Be Involved
 I Want Bring My Talents
to Bear
Using Math & Real World Data
to Develop Global Competence
Globally competent students must have the
knowledge and skills to:
~ Anthony Jackson,
Asia Society VP of Education
 Investigate the World
 Weigh Perspectives
 Communicate Ideas
 Take Action
 Apply Interdisciplinary
& Disciplinary Expertise

Think, Pair, Share
What is one thing you are
currently doing to engage
students with the use of
mathematics in relation to
a global issue?
(If you momentarily can‟t think of
anything, what is something you
would like to do?)

Defining Sustainability
“Meeting our own needs without limiting the ability
of future generations to meet their needs”
World Commission on Environment & Development, 1987
Flourishing
Environment
Strong
Economy
Social
Well-being
Sustainable
Communities

“When Will I Ever Use This?”
Teachers requested:
 Engaging „hook‟ activities
 Un-manipulated, real world data
 Purposeful mathematics skill
development
 Content knowledge acquisition
using meaningful issues

Global Issues (Algebra + Geometry)
= Real World Math
 Teacher‟s Guide & Student
Workbook
 15 NCTM aligned lessons
 State alignments online
 Aligned with popular U.S. math
texts
 Students use 21st-century skills
Critical thinking
Collaboration
Global perspective
 Multiple points of implementation:
Hook activities at start of a unit
Reinforcement of learned concepts
Assessment of learning
Individual, small group, whole class

15 Engaging Lessons
1. Number Patterns: Waste &
Recycling
2. Introduction to Algebra:
Poverty & Microcredit
3. Modeling Integers:
Population Growth
4. Solving Algebraic Equations:
Food Choices
5. Data & Graphs: Youth
Conflict
6. Number Theory:
Consumption Choices
7. Rational Numbers: Financial
Decisions
8. Proportion, Percent, &
Probability: Global Health
9. Solving Inequalities: Carbon
Emissions
10.Spatial Thinking: Solar Power
11.Area & Transformations:
Wildlife Habitats
12.Surface Area & Volume:
Sustainable Design
13.Linear Functions: Systems &
Global Education
14.Midpoint & Distance Formulas:
Resource Distribution
15.Data Analysis: Quality of Life

Critical Thinking Questions:
 What are historic and current recycling trends in the US?
 What are the impacts of waste disposal?
 What are ways to reduce impacts of US produced waste?
Lesson 1
Number Patterns: Waste & Recycling

Lesson 1
Objectives:
 Create expressions containing variables that represent
real world patterns
 Explore patterns of US disposal and recycling
 Use tables and graphs to organize data
 Identify number patterns

Lesson 1
Introductory Activity:
In small groups, answer these
questions about the items on
the next slide:
 Where does it go after it‟s used?
 Can it be reused? If so, how?

Lesson 1
In small groups, answer these
questions about the items on
the next slide:
 Where does it go after it‟s used?
 Can it be reused? If so, how?
Questions for the whole group:
 Is it OK for all these to be landfilled?
 How many plastic bottles do you use in a day?
 How many are used in the U.S. in 5 minutes?
2 million

Images retrieved from www.chrisjordan.com
Partial Zoom
www.chrisjordan.com
Additional Resources

Iceberg Model
for understanding root causes and
leverage points of global issues

Background & Practice

Waste Not, Want Not
2. How many plastic bottles are used in 1 day
24 mil. bottles per hour x 24 hours = 576 mil. bottles
3. If 1/3 are recycled daily, how many are not?
2/3 x 576 = 384 mil. bottles OR 576 – (1/3 x 576)= 384 mil. bottles
4. 2 consequences of NOT recycling plastic bottles?
5. Create an equation to solve for number of bottles recycled
for any number of hours where B=Bottles & H=Hours
B = H x 24 mil. bottles

Waste Not, Want Not
6. Organize this data into
a line graph
7. Predict the number of
pounds per day the
average person will
discard in 2020
approx. 4.6 to 5.5 lbs
4.6
5.5

Waste Not, Want Not
8. All materials except plastics and
food scraps make up 76% of
our waste stream.
The % of plastics is the same
as the % of food scraps.
What % of our waste stream is
plastics?
(100% - 76%) / 2 = 12%
9. Recycling 4,050 20 oz. bottles
saves 1 cubic yard of landfill
space.
How many bottles need to be
recycled to save 50 cubic yards
of landfill space?
4,050 x 50 = 202,500

Waste Not, Want Not
10. If we tripled the amount
of metals we recycle,
how many million
metric tons of CO2 will
be eliminated?
6.5 x 3 = 19.5 million
metric tons
Bonus: What was the total
amount of solid
waste generated in
2006?
251.69 million tons

Waste Not, Want Not
Sides Debate
Regardless of opportunities for
increased recycling of plastic
bottles, communities should
ban their use.

Waste Not, Want Not
Discussion Questions
Is it important to recycle as much as we can?
Other than recycling, what are other ways to reduce the
amount of waste we produce?
Where is the closest landfill to your house? What factors
influence their location? Would you want one near you?
Will the amount of waste generated per person in the U.S.
continue to increase?
What kinds of materials are recyclable in your community?
What are barriers to recycling and ways to overcome them?

Extension Ideas
 Calculate how many t-
shirts could be made with
a given number of
recycled plastic bottles.
 Determine the amount of
energy and water saved
by recycling various
materials.
It takes 14 recycled 20
ounce plastic bottles to
make 1 XL t-shirt.

Trash Track:
 Partnership between the
Seattle Public Library and
MIT
 Tagging everyday items
with GPS locators to
follow them through the
“removal chain”
 Examining the “Removal
Chain”
http://senseable.mit.edu/trashtrack

Action Project
Find alternatives for
items currently being
thrown in landfills.
Organize a campaign
to support reuse of at
least one of the items
from the lesson
introduction.

Searchable Database of
State Education Standards

Ecological Footprint:
Watch Where You Step
The area of the Earth‟s productive surface
(land and sea) that it takes
to produce the goods and
services necessary to
support a given human
lifestyle.

Taking an abstract
concept – “I‟m stepping on a
cotton field in Brazil?”
Making it relevant – “I got
these pants at ________.”
Thinking critically – “What are the impacts of pants
made of cotton from Brazil, sewn in Honduras, and
shipped to the US? How could you reduce those impacts?
Ecological Footprint
“Watch Where You Step”

Choose a:
Favorite Meal
Favorite Object
Item of Clothing
Mode of
Transportation
Diagram:
Resources
Processes
Impacts

Photos courtesy of Ben Wheeler

Ecological Footprint Calculators
www.footprintnetwork.org
www.myfootprint.org
www.zerofootprintkids.com

Ecological Footprint Calculators

“Ecological footprint is
not about „how bad
things are.‟ It is about
humanity‟s continuing
dependence on nature
and what we can do to
secure Earth‟s capacity
to support a human
existence for all in the
future.”
~ Mathis Wackernagel & William E. Rees
authors of Our Ecological Footprint
Photo credit: flickr/rosh121

 www.storyofstuff.org
A 20-minute look at our production and
consumption patterns. Illustrates the
connections between environmental and
social issues, and calls us together to create
a more sustainable world. You‟ll learn, laugh,
and maybe change the way you look at the
stuff in your life forever.
 www.sightline.org
Tracing back the layers of distribution,
commerce, and production involved in
everyday consumer goods, Stuff is an
engaging and fact-packed look at the people
and places that are affected every time you
sip your coffee, tie your shoes, click your
mouse, step on the gas, or read a book.

 Interdisciplinary
 10 lessons
 Correlated with state and
national science and
social studies standards
 Explores the materials
economy and its 5 steps:
Extraction
Production
Distribution
Consumption
Disposal

Lesson 2
Introduction to Algebra: Poverty & Microcredit
 What are some solutions to ending extreme poverty?
 What is microcredit and how can it help alleviate poverty?

Lesson 2
Objectives:
 Investigate microcredit as a solution to extreme poverty
 Consider what it means to live in extreme poverty
 Brainstorm solutions to extreme poverty
 Evaluate formulas for different values
 Solve multi-step equations

Lesson 2
How much would you pay for the following items?
Movie ticket
Bus fare
Cup of coffee
3-course dinner
Could you buy any
for under $2

Let’s Go Shopping
 Where can you buy each
item for the lowest price?
 Which city is most
expensive?
Think, Pair, Share
 Is it feasible to live on $2
a day?
 What % of world‟s people
live on $2 a day or less?
 What would life be like?
 Where would you live
and work?
 What would you eat?
 How could the number of
people living in extreme
poverty be reduced?

Microcredit Business Plan
1. Calculate your total
operational costs (TOC)
TOC = Sc + (n x Mc)

Microcredit Business Plan
2. Calculate your profit
P = n (S – Mc)

Action Project
Organize a “Penny Challenge” to support a
microcredit organization
Each penny = 1 point
All other money is negative points (can be put in
competitor‟s container to decrease points but
increase total money raised).
Trickle Up www.trickleup.org
Grameen Bank www.grameen-info.org
Kiva www.kiva.org

Microcredit for Sustainable Development
Curriculum Extension Using
Engaging Students Through Global Issues
 40 activity-based lessons
 Subject areas and key concepts
 National standards alignment
 Timing and step-by-step instructions
 Materials needed and handouts
 Assessment questions
 Extension activities
 Connections to technology, literacy,
math, art
 Action project ideas
 Recommended resources such as:
films, books, websites

FTF Activity-Based Lesson:
“Microcredit for Sustainable Development”
Research a developing country
Apply for a $100 microcredit
grant to start a business
Create a poster and
presentation of your plan
and have plan approved
by a panel of “experts”

Lesson 13
Linear Functions: Systems & Global Education
 How can understanding systems help us find solutions to
large and complex problems?
 How can we redesign a system to achieve a desired
outcome?
 What part does education play in creating a stable future?
Objectives:
 Graph linear functions
 Calculate slope
 Use systems thinking to look at problems
 Discover worldwide trends in primary school completion

Lesson 13
 “Bears In The Air” – Only 2 Rules:
1. Everyone must touch the bear
2. Must touch it in the same order each time
 Stand in a circle, practice for one round
 Time 2 rounds, trying to get faster each round,
plot on coordinate plane
 Plot slope using first 2 rounds
 Use y = mx + b to estimate 8th round
 Exploring limits to success

Lesson 13
Bears In The Air
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Trial Number
TimeinSeconds
Time
Limits to Success

Making the Grade

Making the Grade
Discussion Questions
How would life be different for you if
you were not able to attend school?
What role does education play in
shaping the future?
What might be some
consequences of not encouraging
worldwide education?
Why are the goals for the 4
regions different from the actual
numbers of students completing
primary school?

Action Project
Identify a local system in their community
that is in need of reform.
Create a proposal that would help
transform this system to make a positive
difference.
Present findings to stakeholders and
decision makers

Facing the Future Resources
Student textbooks
Preview chapters available
online
Teacher Lesson Plan Books
Over 25 lessons available for free at
1-2 week curriculum units
All available online to WA
teachers for free

Staying Connected
Visit www.facingthefuture.org
Sign up for FTF e-newsletter
Be a Peer Educator
Provide feedback via survey
Contact FTF:
dave@facingthefuture.org

“We must teach our students that
they can be architects of the future,
rather than its victims.”
~ Buckminster Fuller, Architect and Philosopher

NCTM New Orleans - Real World Math

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