Importance Of Mathematics To Students Essay

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Making Mathematics Relevant to Students
It is no secret that a lot of students struggle in school, especially with mathematics. Students struggle to see the importance of mathematics and are constantly asking, “when are we ever going to use this?” Educators and scholars are constantly seeking for new ways to help students make the connection between math and the real world. Philip Clarkson portrays a solution to this problem in his article “Mathematics and Water in the Garden: Weaving Mathematics into the Students’ Lived Environment.”
The article focuses on communities in south-eastern Australia who have faced a drought for the past ten years. The drought posed a significant threat to the agriculture, leading students to experience mathematics in connection to their everyday lives. Through the use of mathematics, students created a sustainable farm and explored solutions to problems such as how much water to use, how to water the plants, and how to fertilize the garden. “This was seen as far more meaningful than solving endless textbook examples that rarely connected with students’ own lives (Clarkson, 2010, p.11).”The article portrays the importance of making mathematics relevant to students’ lives and with that relevance comes a …show more content…

There is not one solution that will fix this problem for every student. The solution will differ from student to student; however, when we look at a classroom of learners instead of the individual students, a lot of times the reason the class struggles is because what the teacher is teaching is not relevant to the students. Therefore, the students don’t see the importance leading them to not put forth the necessary effort to learn. What students learn inside the classroom needs to be applied outside the classroom. If what the class is learning directly impacts their lives, like the drought in Australia did for those students, then the class will be more eager to

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