by Ashley Shea

Created on: July 12, 2009   Last Updated: July 14, 2009

In every math class, I've heard the same question from students: When are we ever going to use this? It's important for students to understand how math is part of almost everything they do. When they can see the exciting ways math is used, they are more motivated to learn.

The Futures Channel is the best of the best when it comes to showing students how math is used in exciting careers like designing skateboards and writing music for movies. Short 3-5 minute videos are available for viewing on the site. Students can watch them independently, or they can be used to introduce topics. The site also has activities related to the videos that students or an entire class and do. While the level of math involved is geared more for middle to high school students, primary students will still enjoy the videos and some activities can be brought down to their level.

Another way to get students interested in math is to make it fun. There are many sites available that provide fun games and animated flashcard activities. Check out Yahooligans for the most often used math websites.

BBC Schools provides activities and games for upper elementary and middle school students. Topics range from basic arithmetic to geometry and probability. The site includes instruction followed by a short quiz. If students answer the quiz questions incorrectly, they are given information to help them understand why their answer was wrong. The site has two games that get students involved using their math skills. They can play against anyone else online, or they can choose to play against people they know. Your class or school can create a "league" of students as a pool of competitors.

Harcourt School Publishers has made its online math glossary available to all. This glossary provides visual and verbal definitions for math terms used in grades Kindergarten through 6. You choose the grade you want to view and select from glossary terms appropriate for that grade level. When I clicked on the term "addend," I was given a definition of the term "any of the numbers that are added" as well as an equation that flashed the addends and a model of the addition problem - 5 red robots and 2 yellow robots.

Houghton Mifflin has a carnival-themed website called Eduplace. Choose your grade from Kindergarten to grade 6 and you are taken to a wealth of activities that include brain teasers, games, manipulatives (like money, counters, and graphs), and extra practice quizzes organized by topic.

If you want to find activities for specific topics, perform a search on Yahooligans for that topic. Yahooligans is a search engine specifically for children. You will be surprised by the number of child-friendly sites that will come up for your search.

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