Nick Koberstein

NCTM Article Review

The article Fixing Ganache: Another Real-Life Use for Algebra by Adam M. Kalman was about an algebra teacher who got asked the dreaded question of When are we going to use this in real life? Fortunately for the author, he had just experienced a situation that involved using algebra the night before when he was making chocolate ganache. He explained to the class that he was not happy with the original recipe and after finding a new recipe, needed to figure out how much more chocolate to add. After having the class solve this, he explained that he didnt have enough additional chocolate to add so instead needed to figure out how much of the bad mixture he should add to the chocolate he did have. This problem showed a real life example of using algebra and how it can have many layers as well as giving students an opportunity to use multiple approaches to solving the problems. This article made me think about how we almost always have nice answers to the problems we give students. In this situation, the students ended up with an ugly answer and this caused them to reconsider their answer because they assumed they were wrong. Although nice answers allow students to stay focused on the concept, I was not aware of how it may hurt them in the long run by losing confidence in their answers and weakening students numerical skills. I also learned that I can use my real life experiences to give my students new and relevant problems. This teacher was able to have an answer to his students question about when they could use algebra in real life. It also gives students an opportunity to solve difficult and non-standard algebra problems.

Nick Koberstein

After reading this article, I plan to use some of my own cooking experiences as problems for my students. I like that these problems can easily have many layers to them and keep my students engaged in solving the problem. This article has also motivated me to keep track of different experiences I have in my life so that I may find something that I can bring to the class that shows how algebra (or any type of mathematics) can be used in real life. I also like the idea of not always having nice answers to my problems. I understand that having nice problems can keep students focused on the concept instead of getting held up on either their ugly answer is right or not. But I think that ugly answers can also motivate students to check their work instead of assuming its right because it looks nice. Ugly answers also show that math can be in seen in real life situations because everything in life does not end up as a whole number or pretty fraction.