The National Math Trail is a project where students develop and receive math problems that relate to their own environments. Students are to look for math in their community and create math word problems to be shared and solved by other students from around the world. Teachers will submit the problems which can be accompanied by drawings, photos, sound recordings, and videos over the Internet. The students' work will then be placed on the Math Trail website to be viewed by others from around the world. The problems will be placed on the website according to topic and grade level. This project web site also contains a tutorial to show teachers simple ways to present their students' work and a template for creating a web page with their students' word problems. This allows teachers with limited technological abilities or web page experience to participate with their students.

BENEFITS AND LIMITATIONS

The National Math Trail is an ideal activity for getting students involved in real world math activities.  My students always struggle with solving word problems and could always use extra practice.  The Math Trail gives them this opportunity while making it very exciting to share their problems along with trying to solve problems with others around the globe.  

The following NCTM standards are also addressed in the math trail.

• recognize and use connections among mathematical ideas;
• understand how mathematical ideas interconnect and build on one another to produce a coherent whole;
• recognize and apply mathematics in contexts outside of mathematics.
• organize and consolidate their mathematical thinking through communication;
• communicate their mathematical thinking coherently and clearly to peers, teachers, and others;
• analyze and evaluate the mathematical thinking and strategies of others;
• use the language of mathematics to express mathematical ideas precisely.
• build new mathematical knowledge through problem solving;
• solve problems that arise in mathematics and in other contexts;
• apply and adapt a variety of appropriate strategies to solve problems;
• monitor and reflect on the process of mathematical problem solving.

If you teach in a one computer classroom, there could be limits to how you use this program.  Although this project can work with students working on the computer one at a time, it would be best if they could work in a lab with each student working on a computer individually.  In a lab the teacher can work with the class having each student write a word problem related to their geographic location.