One of the challenges we face as educators is providing students with opportunities to engage in meaningful learning experiences that show them how they can connect the knowledge and skills learned in school to the real world. 

Here are some resources that are ready and waiting for use, regardless of your tech comfort zone.

Welcome to the Global 2013 STEMx Education Conference. The conference will be held September 19 - 21, 2013. The conference is online, in multiple time zones over the course of two days, and free to attend!  Register as a member of this conference network to be kept informed!  See the conference information and welcome HERE and the menu links to the left and at the top of each page.

First… lets take a look at the free  (or almost free) resources provided below

1. Khan Academy As the site states… watch, practice… learn almost anything. There are over 3,100 videos in multiple STEM areas

2. MIT Blossoms BLOSSOMS video lessons are enriching students’ learning experiences in high school classrooms for students across the globe. This amazing video library contains over 50 math and science lessons, all freely available to teachers as streaming video and Internet downloads and as DVDs and videotapes

LearnZillion videos provide math lessons tied to Common Core standards for grades three through nine.

 All materials found on Mastery Connect are tied to specific Common Core standards.

As a math teacher, what made you turn to Project Based Learning in your own teaching?

Why do many math teachers initially resist integrating Project Based Learning into their classes?

So we assume having students practicing problems twenty-five times is the only way to learn math. This is a difficult mindset to break. Practice makes perfect is the old adage, but what many math teachers don’t realize is that creating a Project Based Learning environment in a math class doesn’t require students to be “perfect.” Having students solve complex, real-life problems is actually asking students to complete open-ended tasks. These problems may not have one right answer, unlike the practice problems in a textbook. This can be a scary leap for math teachers to take and many students may be hesitant to take this leap as well.