Math in the Real World

Lee Kaltman Cornell University

May 9th, 2015

A little about me

• Finance Degree, Babson College

• 10 years business development

• 10 years public school math teacher

• 3 years experimenting with new ways to provide pedagogy

What is an educator’s job?

To guide students to master standards and

certify the mastery

Transference

What does transfer look like?

https://vimeo.com/108344563

How do you apply what you are doing in class in

the real world?

When%I%look%at%this%I%see%Math.%What%Math%do%you%see?%

Authentic projects with student teams

Service Learning Internship

https://vimeo.com/69880515

Step two: Common Core StandardCCSS.Math.Content.HSN-Q.A.2 Define appropriate quantities for the purpose of descriptive modeling.

Finance Internship!

!©2014 by School.me, Inc. all rights reserved.

!

Learning(Opportunity!! Investment!Apprenticeship! !!

Description(Collaboratively!perform!diligence!on!investments!and!!compile!research!reports.!!Performance!based!stipend.!

( (Essential(question(

How!does!one!maximize!the!return!on!an!investment?!!(Inputs!are!financial,!social,!sustainable,!and!happiness!values)!

!Multidiscipline(learning(experience(

Math%/Science/%Art/%Social%Science/%Language%Arts%/%Health/%PE/%Art%Common%core%aligned:%http://www.corestandards.org/the>standards%

%Cdetermine!asset!class!and!create!valuation!framework!

Cperform!market!research!looking!at!macro!and!micro!factors!Creflect!on!the!opportunity!cost!attributed!to!time!value!of!money!

Cperform!cash!flow!analysis,!as!well!as!tangible!value!analysis!Cperform!social!impact!analysis,!as!well!as!sustainable!value!analysis!

Ccreate!assumptions,!make!predications,!and!assess!risks!Cdetermine!valuation!and!evaluate!finance!alternatives!

!Skills(required(

Ability!to!perform!or!desire!to!learn!basic!computer!skills!such!as!“office!suite”!products,!ability!to!use!a!calculator,!ability!to!comprehend!both!two!dimensionally!as!well!as!three!dimensionally,!ability!to!focus!on!a!longCterm!

project!with!specific!tasks,!ability!to!keep!confidence!of!proprietary!information,!ability!to!work!on!a!team,!ability!to!multiCtask,!ability!to!take!

risks,!ability!to!accept!failure.!

Project: Historic House Renovation

• Estimation • Measurement • Problem Solving • Geometry • Algebra • Statistics

Analysis of a Purchase• looked at similar local property

values

• figured out average selling price per square foot

• brought in subcontractors to assess cost of improvements

• added 25% to estimates to be conservative

Purchase Price: $130K

2,000 sq ft $65/sq ft

Market Price: $150/sq ft

last 5 houses sold

Figuring out Budgets and

cash flows once complete and

then evaluating financing

Working through

Geometry and problem

solving

SHEET%ROCK%MATH%by%Lee%Kaltman,%MS%Ed%(Carpenter%skills%were%taught%by%Joel%Brain,%Master%Teacher)%

%%%

!

!!!!!! !!

The!Carpenter!has!a!right!angle!ruler!to!help!cut!straight!lines!in!sheet!rock.!The!carpenter!can!cut!the!sheet!rock!with!a!razor!sharp!blade.!

The!carpenter!needs!to!cut!a!piece!for!this!rectangular!space!but!needs!to!leave!the!opening!for!the!fan?!

What!are!the!different!ways!the!carpenter!could!figure!out!the!area!of!the!circle!so!he!can!fit!the!sheetrock!as!in!the!finished!picture?!

!

https://www.transfolios.com/users/2/submissions/252

Structured Equity Trades

Betting on a BOOM

Protection from a BUST

What is a Boom / Bust (Outliers) Trade?

*see real world trades (expires March 2015)

Questions• What is a security?

• What is a share of stock?

• What does Boom mean?

• What does Bust mean?

• What is a commission?

• What does buy an option entail?

• What is time value of money?

Working through some math

What would this trade be called?

*see real world past trades (expired March 2013)

A different kind of trade for extra credit

Real World case scenarios for strategy

Timeline:(Read(Sears(document((5(minutes)(Brainstorm(activity(in(group((15(minutes)(Presentation(((10(minutes)(

Sears&The$department$store$has$struggled$in$recent$years$with$poor$performing$stores$and$an$outdated$brand$in$addition$to$competing$with$e7commerce$savvy$competitors.$$In$December$2014,$Sears$was$on$track$to$post$its$eight$annual$revenue$drop$and$it’s$fourth$annual$loss.$

Thanks Creativeniche for Lesson Idea

Summary:&After$you$read$the$document$as$a$team$brainstorm$new$ways$to$transform$the$Sears$business$that$is$threatened$by$limited$resources,$advances$in$technologies$and$changes$in$consumption.$$Your$goal$is$to$Find$creative$value$and$identify$a$new$strategy$that$will$help$Sears$Flourish.$

As&Educators: Think$of$new$standards$that$group$was$able$to$think$through$the$process$of$this$business$strategy.$

Group work

How could you bring real world business scenarios to engage

students to master standards and provide transfer?

Playing games also creates Transference

Project DominosThe game of dominos

offers an opportunity to teach the basics of number sense by

physical representation of quantities but to become a “master”

domino player one will compute higher level

game theory computations.

How many different standards does the student master playing dominos?

How many different standards does the student master from thinking through

making the dominos?

We all learn best from experience: https://vimeo.com/126983399

If you have follow up questions please feel free to contact me at lee@school.me