Math: Money & Time

"When am I ever going to use this in real life?" It's a familiar math class complaint, and this video has the answer: two daily concerns that are both founded on mathematical principles--money and time. Pointing out that currency denominations are based on the decimal system, the opening segment 'shows us the money,' tracing the history of currency, demonstrating how money is minted, and--most important--tying money to the basic mathematical principles of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and working with fractions. Kids are shown making various transactions with their own cash, while simple banking terminology is introduced. In the second segment, "Time," viewers trace the history of our numerically-based timekeeping method of organizing time by years, months, days, minutes, and seconds. While not exactly math instruction, this is still a fun way to start a unit on decimals, or to assure students that, yes, they already do use math in real life. Recommended. Aud: I, J. (E. Gieschen)