Use of Maths in Other Subjects

The math teacher can teach students about exponential notation. Once students become proficient in reading and writing numbers in exponential form, and in converting numbers between exponential, factor, and standard form, they can apply this knowledge to topics in science. For example, they can write the distance between the sun and each planet using scientific notation. For advanced students, you can teach them about negative exponents. Then they can explore the half-life of certain radioactive elements, or the size of bacteria and viruses. Explore many scientific facts, such as the boiling and freezing point of liquids, the melting and freezing points of solids, and the temperature of planets, Have you been to the playground lately? You’ll find many connections between algebra, science, and the real world in our article entitled

Math and Social Studiesstudents apply these skills to topics in Social Studies. For example, they can draw bar graphs to compare the Population, Per Capita Income, and Population Density of various countries. For other connections between math and social studies|

Math and Sports
Students can compute the percent win-loss of games played by their favorite sports teams. They can find data on teams in their school, or they can find data for professional teams online and in the newspapers. You can bring this activity into the computer lab by placing all the data in a spreadsheet. A formula can be used to compute the percent win-loss

Math and TechnologyThere are two main approaches to to addressing technology in the math classroom. You can integrate math and technology, making these topics the object of instruction. For example, round-off error is described below. You can also use technology to facilitate math learning. For example, the use of an iPod, an interactive whiteboard, or other devices, as described on our Math and Technology page.If you divide the numerator of a fraction by its denominator, and the result is a repeating decimal, your calculator will not display the results with 100% accuracy. This is because repeating decimals have aninfinite number of digits and calculators can only compute to a finitenumber of digits. This phenomenon, known as round-off error, also applies to computers. You can use this topic to integrate math and technology in your classroom. Students will marvel at the way different calculators and computers display varying results when they experiment with fractions such as 2/3, 5/6 or 8/9. Read our creative teaching idea entitled: Repeating Decimals and The Monster That Wouldn’t Die.

Math and WritingOne of the things stressed by standardized tests is the ability to answer open-ended questions. Typically, students are asked to provide written explanations for solutions to math problems. This assesses their ability to express their mathematical ideas in written form. To help them prepare for these types of questions, I do a math project that involves writing. I ask students to answer several open-ended questions using full sentences. The math teacher can grade students based on the mathematical correctness of their responses. The Language Arts or English Teacher can grade them on spelling and grammar. Some sample questions are provided in our Classroom Activities and Project Ideas forNumber Theory and Understanding Percent. Students can also answer the questions in our Number Theory WebQuest using full sentences.