How can a teacher relate math to the environment and real life in order to make it interesting and relevant to students?

Answer 1

I'm struggling with this one. At the moment I can only think of doing a survey of some kind. Possibly using cars or insects in a quadrant as variables. --- Creating a single "one example interests everyone" situation is virtually impossible. Additionally, it's a counter-intuitive approach to getting people to want to use math. Many teachers essentially say, "these possibly interesting things are impossible without math". While this might motivate a few, it makes more sense to try and teach students to find ways to apply math to their own unique interests. Avoid problem repetition - don't just ask the same question over and over again with new numbers. Teach the fundamentals and how they work. By introducing new problems and expecting students to figure out how to solve those problems (rather than just how to plug numbers into a memorized formula) you develop a mindset in which they are more likely to see an interesting and relevant application all on their own.