Math,+Who+Needs+It?

Math, Who Needs it Anyway?! Introduction: It is all too often that students in math classes ask, “Why do I need to know this math concept?” Jaime Escalante, the famous math teacher who inspired the movie “Stand and Deliver” used real life perspectives to teach math to his students. Did you know that every career imaginable uses math in some way to be successful? That’s right - from accounting to home making and medicine to fashion, math skills are needed every day. media type="youtube" key="LqvQNPRrjU0?fs=1" height="385" width="480" align="center"

Task:
You will use the five clusters from the NJ Core Curriculum Content Standards:


 * [|Ratios & Proportional Relationships]
 * [|The Number System]
 * [|Expressions & Equations]
 * [|Geometry]
 * [|Statistics & Probability]

Develop a wiki to share with other math students, proving that math is needed for all kinds of careers. After doing research on different careers, it will be up to you to choose 5 professions, one to represent each of the 5 clusters. Your job is to tell how each carreer uses math from the cluster it represents. Share examples of the math computations that are necessary to do the job.

Your completed wiki page will then be able to be viewed by future students and thus end the age old question of, “Math, who needs it anyway?”

The Process:

 * 1) Ratios & Proportional Relationships
 * 2) Choose and career to represent this cluster
 * 3) Describe the career and it's use of math in this cluster.
 * 4) Demonstrate how math is used in this career through two examples of mathematical computations that are necessary to do the job.
 * 5) Identify the starting salary for this profession.
 * 6) The Number System
 * 7) Choose and career to represent this cluster
 * 8) Describe the career and it's use of math in this cluster.
 * 9) Demonstrate how math is used in this career through two examples of mathematical computations that are necessary to do the job.
 * 10) Identify the starting salary for this profession.
 * 11) Expressions and Equations
 * 12) Choose and career to represent this cluster
 * 13) Describe the career and it's use of math in this cluster.
 * 14) Demonstrate how math is used in this career through two examples of mathematical computations that are necessary to do the job.
 * 15) Identify the starting salary for this profession.
 * 16) Geometry
 * 17) Choose and career to represent this cluster
 * 18) Describe the career and it's use of math in this cluster.
 * 19) Demonstrate how math is used in this career through two examples of mathematical computations that are necessary to do the job.
 * 20) Identify the starting salary for this profession.
 * 21) Statistics and Probability
 * 22) Choose and career to represent this cluster
 * 23) Describe the career and it's use of math in this cluster.
 * 24) Demonstrate how math is used in this career through two examples of mathematical computations that are necessary to do the job.
 * 25) Identify the starting salary for this profession.

Final Independent Project: Choose a career that you would like to persue. You may choose any web 2.0 tool to present this career but your excel grid must be embedded in the presentation.
 * 1) Title of career
 * 2) Description of career and educational requirements
 * 3) Mathematical examples and explanations of the cluster's use in that career.
 * 4) List the starting salary for this profession.
 * 5) Pictures or graphs that enhance your explantaions.
 * 6) Choose the career that you would be most like to persue. Create an excel chart identifying your everyday expenses for a month: rent, utilities (gas, electric, cable, phone), car payment, cell phone costs, food, savings, student loan payment, miscellaneous expenses (going to the movies, clothing, travel).....
 * 7) Summary: Must include details if you can support yourself on this salary. Identify how much more salary is needed for your lifestyle.

RESOURCES
 * The Futures Channel: Jaime Escalante: []Find more about Jaime Escalantes and all he did for his students.
 * The Futures Channel: Jaime Escalante on being a teacher: []See a video of Jaime talking about being a teacher and the importance of teaching math as real-life skills.
 * Mathematics-Related Professions: []Search through a list of careers that all involve mathematics.
 * Careers in Math:[]math.com’s advice for careers in math. Also: []
 * Career Profiles: []see a wide variety of jobs that need mathematic skills.
 * Starting Salaries: []
 * or []
 * or []

PBL Unit Document