Math + Transportation = New Teaching Materials

December 19, 2017 2:00 PM
by Jack Moreau

Ms. Meshel’s 1^st Grade Class received bicycle helmets for being the first ones to try Math in My World!

This week, the City of Santa Monica’s Safe Routes to School program launched a new approach to educating elementary school students about walking, biking, skating, scootering, and riding transit with a booklet titled Math in My World. The booklet is full of math problem sets teaching California Common Core standards via word problems based in a world that students recognize as their home.

Research shows that students learn at a much faster rate when skills are taught through narratives. So instead of showing a six-year-old the somewhat-abstract idea that 2+1=3, they learn that Grace has 2 scooters and Sam has 1 scooter and together they have 3.

By creating a learning environment for students to gain critical math skills while considering various means of moving around Santa Monica, kids are getting an early exposure to what it means to live in a healthy, active city where they can have fun on their bicycles and scooters, be kind to the environment, and excel in school.

The teachers are loving it too. All Math in My World workbooks are available at no cost to teachers and directly teach California Common Core. As a reward to the most excited teachers, the first classes to use the booklets are receiving bicycle helmets, keychains, or crazy socks. To date, 434 students in 16 classes have receive booklets and will be using them throughout the year.

To download Math in My World and learn more, visit www.santamonicasaferoutes.org.

Authored By

Jack Moreau
Transportation Management Specialist