Where am I ever going to use this?

"Where am I ever going to use this? Why do we have to learn it? This is so pointless, I am never going to use it again!" As a student I have mumbled the previous phrase and questions countless times and as a future educator, I am sure I will hear them from my own students countless times. As I think back on my education and my experiences in the classroom these statements are often uttered during math and science lessons. I can also recall on several occasions that after these statements were made the the teacher simply responded with, "Trust me, you will see and use it again later on in your life." This answer is not at all satisfying, especially when trying to keep a student interested in the topic. I believe that teachers need to do a better job of showing students how the topics they are learning are truly relevant to their lives in order to help them understand and maintain interest.

As I sit here on a very slow day at work, I am completely surrounded and engulfed by math and science. I currently work as a sales associate and scuba instructor at a dive shop in Appleton. Each and everyday I come to work I am completely encircled by math. When I open the store, I count the cash for the store. As customers come in I use math to calculate discounts, tax, shipping and payments. I use math when calculating how much weight an individual will need in order to be properly weighted while scuba diving. Science is also constantly present through out my work day. Science is needed to understand the physics of diving, filling scuba tanks, and the chemistry of the salt water aquarium that is located in our shop. Science and math are always inter-related with the sport of scuba diving. The science of physics explains why something works the way it does, and then math is used to solve the problem. For instance,science explains how and why objects are either positive, negative, or neutrally buoyant in water. Math is then used to calculate how much more or less weight is needed to make it positive, negative, or neutrally buoyant in the water.

Science and math surround me each and everyday and most of the time I do not even realize it. As a future teacher it will be important for me to help students recognize that on a daily basis science and math surround them, and it is a very important topic for them to learn about.

The following link is to a lesson plan put out by PBS designed around the science and physics that effect scuba divers by using a documentary of the sinking of the Andrea Doria.


Andrea Doria Science Lesson Plan