Take a trip to the do-it-yourself store

Take students to the lumberyard or the home renovation store with a sheet of those questions you find in every text that teaches area and perimeter. Have them answer the questions using material found in the store. Take, for example, the question about how much flooring to buy for a particular size of room. They should pick out the flooring they want, figure out the area of the room in the problem, check that the units in their problem are the same as the units the flooring is sold by (square feet, square yards, square meters), and figure the cost of the flooring. Let them do the same thing for the problem about how many panels of fencing to buy. A digital camera is a welcome addition here, so that they can attach a picture of the flooring or the fence to their solution to the problem.

Call ahead to the store to let them know you’re coming, and you may get co-operation and help from the staff at hand.

Find out about numbers at your program

Make a list of How much? How many? questions about your school, and split the class up into teams to go to various people to find the answers. Make notes of the numbers they find, and present them in graphic form to the class. The students will come up with some questions they are interested in, and then you can decide where to go to find the answers. Below are some examples, only.

• Some students could go on a tour of the facilities with the person in charge of facilities, for example, to find out about numbers in that job, such as, How much toilet paper does the school use in a year? How many photocopies get made in a month? How many cleaners work for how many hours a week/year?
• Other students could talk to an administrator to find out about how many instructors work there, how many support staff, how many administrators? Who has worked there the longest? Who has worked there the shortest time? How many students? What is the total budget the person administers?
• Other students might go to the cafeteria to find out how many cups of coffee are served per day, or how many hamburgers; what days are busiest, slowest; how many times the dishwasher is run, how much detergent is used, etc.

Go to the supermarket

Ask students, How do you shop? How do you decide what to buy or where or when to buy it? Do the stores charge more on welfare day? What are some questions you might like answered? Some students may be banned from some stores, so ask the class what would be a good place to visit before you set out. Phoning ahead may get you some helpful cooperation from store staff.