PERTS Elevate Resource Library

Career Connections

Guide students to connect what they are currently learning in math to real careers related to their interests.

Grades 6-8, 9-12 Math Video · 1:13

Overview

Career Connections links math concepts to real-world careers, helping students see the relevance of what they're learning. By exploring how math is used in diverse fields, such as sports, fashion, healthcare, and media, students become more engaged and motivated. This strategy shifts the question from "When will I use this?" to "How can I use this in something I care about?" It supports belonging, builds purpose, and helps all students see themselves as future problem-solvers who use math in meaningful ways.

Through this practice you will be able to:

  • Increase student engagement by showing the real-world value of math.
  • Foster a sense of purpose and future identity as problem-solvers.
  • Encourage curiosity about careers and pathways where math plays a key role.

Materials

  • Sticky notes or index cards
  • Markers or pens
  • (Optional) Devices with internet access for researching careers
  • Projector or whiteboard for class-wide sharing

Day Before Prep (~60 min)

  1. Connect to Current Learning (5-10 minutes): Choose math concepts being taught in the current unit (e.g., proportions, statistics, geometry)

  2. Build a Career List (10-15 minutes): Create a short, varied list of careers that use the math concept you're teaching in meaningful ways. Include some well-known and some surprising options. You may want to get a sense from students of what careers they are interested in, too, to help align what you choose with their interests. This list can serve as a launchpad for students who don't know where to start. Review How to Talk to Students About the Relevance of Math by the Math Narratives Project to learn more about what makes an example effective.

  3. Prepare to Support Student's Career Exploration (10-15 minutes): Next, take notes on each of the careers on your list to help guide students as they explore the careers. You may want to consider the following for each career:

    • Anticipate career concept connections. For each career on your list, jot down:
      • How the math concept is applied
      • An example task someone in that job might do

  4. Develop guiding questions (10-15 minutes): Prepare 3–5 questions to prompt student thinking and support research. These will help students go beyond surface-level answers. For example:

    • "What specific decisions does someone in this job make using math?"
    • "How might this person collect or interpret data?
    • "What would happen if they got the math wrong in their job?"
    • "Do they use math every day or only in certain situations?"
    • "What tools or technology help them do the math?"

  5. Set Up the Visual (10-20 minutes): Create a space in the classroom for a visual display or career math wall. A dedicated visual display or bulletin board can highlight these connections and celebrate student discoveries. This could be a simple poster or bulletin board where students post sticky notes with career-math connections throughout the unit. You can use categories like:

    • Jobs I already knew used math
    • Surprising math jobs
    • Jobs I'm interested in

Conducting the Practice (35-60 min)

  1. Introduce the Practice (2-3 minutes): "Today we will make connections between the math concepts we have learned and careers that use these skills. We'll explore how math shows up in careers like sports, fashion, healthcare, media and other areas you care about. Our goal is to discover how math is used in the real world and make connections to careers you are interested in."

  2. Kick Off with a Surprising or Relatable Example (5–10 minutes): Share 2–3 unexpected ways the math they're currently learning shows up in jobs and briefly highlight how those specific math concept(s) relate to those careers. Try to rotate examples over time so they stay fresh and relevant to what you are currently teaching. For instance:

    • A video game designer using geometry and logic to create 3D worlds.
    • A chef adjusting recipes using ratios and conversions.
    • A fashion buyer using data analysis to predict trends and manage inventory.

    Use visuals, brief video clips, or real-world artifacts (e.g., screenshots, job postings, infographics) to make this dynamic and engaging.

    Optional: Before sharing examples yourself, you may want to first prompt students to think of some examples on their own. Here are some sample prompts:

    • "We've been learning about percentages… where do you think someone might use those in a job?"
    • "You've seen linear equations. Let's think about who might use them to make decisions in the real world."

  3. Brainstorm or Research (15-25 minutes): Instruct students that they will now have the chance to explore connections between careers and the current math concepts they are working on. Allow students to brainstorm in pairs or groups. Optionally, give time to research careers online or provide articles/handouts with descriptions. Some students may already have a career in mind, while others might need help getting started and can use the Career List you prepared. While students are exploring various careers, be sure to:

    • Actively Facilitate: Move around the room, listen in on conversations, and use open-ended prompts to guide thinking. Use your prepared prompts to help students make meaningful and specific connections between the identified concept and the actual task professionals in that career perform.
    • Provide Support and Clarifying Questions: You can share your prepared career starter list or guiding questions to help students who feel stuck.
    • Encourage Depth and Curiosity: Challenge students to go beyond the obvious (e.g., "engineers use [the identified concept]") and instead describe how the concept is used in that career. For example, "So you said a fashion designer uses ratios, that's a great start! Next, try thinking about how they use ratios and describe it in more detail." If you are allowing students to use a computer to do research, encourage them to look up more about the career to help them answer the how and why.

  4. (Optional) Suggestion for Sharing (5-10 minutes): Invite students to contribute their ideas to a shared classroom display such as the "Where Math Shows Up" wall. Students can write their ideas on sticky notes or index cards, and write their own comment or use one a sentence starter, such as:

    • "I used to think _ used math in their jobs only by ____, but now I know they also ___."
    • "I learned that _ needs to understand _ to do their job."
    • "One surprising way math shows up in _ is _."
    • "I used to think only _ used math in their jobs, but now I know _ also does."

  5. Class Discussion (5-10 minutes): Invite a few students to share out loud what they learned and why it surprised or interested them.

  6. Ideas for Extending the Practice:

    • Have students create short slides, posters, or journal entries explaining how math is used in a career of their choice. Depending on how involved the activity is, you may want to break it up over two days.
    • To enhance student engagement and real-world relevance, consider incorporating a Career Connections Friday into your classroom routine. This practice provides students with an opportunity to explore how mathematical thinking applies to various professions. Additionally, schools may choose to culminate this work with a Math Career Day, where students showcase their chosen careers and the mathematical skills those roles require. This approach fosters motivation, purpose, and a deeper understanding of how math shapes the world beyond the classroom.

Pitfalls to Avoid

  • Overgeneralizing careers: Avoid vague, generic, or overly simplified examples (e.g., "Engineers do math" or "Architects use geometry"). Instead, spend time focusing on how math is applied in specific tasks. Interesting and surprising examples may be especially effective, such as:

    • A hairstylist using proportional reasoning to mix hair dye
    • A delivery driver estimating time using speed-distance calculations
    • A video game developer using transformations and angles in game engines

  • Lack of variety: Don't limit examples to only high-level or highly technical jobs. Include hands-on, artistic, and service careers to reflect diverse student interests.

  • One-time use: Integrate Career Connections throughout the year, not just as a single lesson, so students continually see math's relevance.

  • Student disengagement during research: Provide guiding questions or career lists to help focus exploration.

What to Look For

  • Students showing curiosity and making personal connections to careers
  • A variety of careers are mentioned, including non-STEM roles
  • More chances for everyone to join in, including for students who find math harder to connect to
  • Thoughtful reasoning about how math connects to everyday tasks and decision-making in jobs

Additional Inspiration

How to Talk to Students About the Relevance of Math

This practice was developed in collaboration with WestEd.