Sparking A Teen’s Interest In Math (NAPSA)—Solid math and science skills could add up to a brighter future for teens. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, jobs requiring science, engineering and technical training will increase by 51 percent through 2008—for a total of six million newjobs. In addition, teens who only complete Algebra 2 during high school have a 40 percent chance of receiving a bachelor’s degree, while teens who complete precalculus have a 70 percent chance. These statistics and others have led educators to urge parents to keep their teens involved in math throughout high school. To help, teachers across the U.S. are participating in a program called “WeAll Use Math Every Day™.” Led by Texas Instruments in association with the National Council of Teachers, the program involves using the popular CBS show “NUMB38RS”to help students clearly see the realworld relevancy of math. The TV program focuses on an FBI agent and his math-expert brother. The two use mathto solve cases on the show. The math used is similar to math used by the FBI in actual investigations. Teachers and teens visit cbs.com/numb38rs to download activities corresponding to each week’s episode. Educators can also order a classroom kit with a teaching poster to underscore the importance of learning math. One activity on the site, called “Financial Futures” from the episode “Calculated Risk,” teaches children to use compoundinterest Math teachers are using a popular television show, starring David Krumholtz,in the classroom. formulas. In the associated episode, Charlie (the math expert) helps his brother investigate a case involving an energy company that made its money trading futures. The activity asks students to use their graphing calculators to predict the performance of a certain CD andof a group of futures. Students are then asked which they’d prefer to invest in and why. A second activity, called “A Mathematics Sampler” from the same episode, is based on a scenario in “NUMB38RS”in which Charlie asks people to choose gumballs out of a jar and predicts the color of the gumball they’ll choose. Students doing the activity calculate probability and use the “probability simulation application” on their calculators to demonstrate different concepts. To date, over 15,000 teachers have used the activities to help teens develop an interest in math —an interest that could help them in school andlaterinlife. For more information, visit cbs.com/numb3rs.
