Arizona PBS presents innovative project "Real-Life Math"

John Anderson explains how he uses math as ASU’s men’s basketball athletic trainer in a “Real-Life Math” video for Eight.

PHOENIX – (Feb. 6, 2015) Eight, Arizona PBS offers parents and educators a new pathway to inspire middle school students to explore the importance of mathematics with “Real-Life Math.”

Eight’s original project includes 20 online videos, featuring professionals from numerous fields discussing how they continuously employ and confront math in their careers.

As part of the national PBS initiative, “Math at the Core: Middle School,” Eight’s “Real-Life Math” videos reveal how math concepts and skills are necessary for life-long success, and offer a snapshot of just how many diverse careers utilize and depend upon math skills daily.

“Not every student understands the importance of mathematics in everyday life,” says Mark Becker, Eight’s associate director of educational outreach. “Many students believe that their chosen careers do not require math, which leads them to question the need to learn math as part of their overall education. Our hope is that these real-life examples will give students something to think about and may even change their perception.”

Each “Real-Life Math” video also provides parents and educators with additional information regarding mathematical educational standards in Arizona along with supplemental material, such as activity ideas, useful for teaching math to students. 

Eight produced this project as one of its contributions toward the PBS LearningMedia online educational resource, which provides pre-K–12 educators with access to free digital content for their classroom designed to improve teacher effectiveness and student achievement on a broad variety of topics and skill areas.

For more information and to view “Real-Life Math” videos visit http://az.pbslearningmedia.org/search/?q=Real+Life+Math+project.

About PBS LearningMedia
As America’s largest classroom, teachers of children from pre-K through 12th grade turn to PBS for digital content and services that help bring classroom lessons to life. PBS LearningMedia, a partnership of PBS and WGBH Educational Foundation, is a free media-on-demand service offering educators access to the best of public media and delivers research-based, classroom-ready digital learning experiences to engage students in exploring curriculum concepts that align with National and Common Core State Standards. Nationwide, more than 1.5 million teachers have registered access to more than 100,000 digital resources available through PBS LearningMedia. More information about PBS LearningMedia is available at az.pbslearningmedia.org or by following PBS LearningMedia on Twitter and Facebook.