The futures channel

Our school has  been hosting a basketball tournament since Wednesday afternoon and it will finish tomorrow afternoon.  Throughout the tournament, I've spoken with students about the uses of mathematics in the real world and most kids laughed in my face.  I need to show them more examples of how math is used in real life.  This is where The Futures Channel comes in. This is a website which has all sorts of videos that show how math is used in real life.  When you go there, they highlight two or three videos.  Most videos are between 3 and 7 minutes.  I've shown several covering designing and making backpacks, creating sunglasses, becoming a zoo keeper and making bicycles.  In each video, they interview a person who shows how the math is used in their line of work.  There is usually a follow up activity for the students based on the video.  Although most videos are available by subscription, there are a few available for free and they change regularly.  The cost is not too bad at $13  per month but they also have an option of getting many of the videos on DVD so you have copies available for use at the school.  I highly recommend integrating these videos into the classroom.