Making Math Meaningful for High Schoolers

High school students often ask the age-old question: “When will I ever use this in real life?” For math educators, this challenge is all too familiar.

Many teenagers struggle to connect with mathematics because the content can feel abstract or disconnected from their everyday experiences. But what if we could help students see math not just as a subject to pass, but as a powerful tool for understanding and navigating their world?

In my experience, I have found that the key to engagement is relevance. When students perceive math as meaningful and useful, they are more likely to actively participate, retain knowledge, and build confidence in their skills.

In this blog post, I’ll share strategies and insights that educators can use to engage high school students by making math more relevant and authentic.

The Relevance Gap: A Barrier to Engagement

Teachers are often pressured to stick to pacing guides and curricula, but focusing only on procedural fluency can leave students feeling disconnected. Instead, educators can shift the focus to how students engage with mathematical ideas.

Math becomes relevant when students can explore, question, and apply it in meaningful ways. Engagement isn't just about making lessons fun — it’s about helping students become mathematical thinkers and doers who take ownership of their learning. This kind of agency fosters deeper understanding and a genuine appreciation for the subject.

Simulating Real-World Math

Too often, students are asked to solve word problems that feel artificial. I would advocate for a different approach: simulation. Instead of handing students a contrived scenario, let them experience the math in action.

Take, for example, the traditional lesson on quadratic functions, which typically involves a static projectile motion problem on a worksheet. Why not turn this lesson into a dynamic learning opportunity. Bring students to the gym, have them record free-throw attempts with their phones, and use technology to model the path of the ball. Each student’s shot produces a unique parabola, offering a personal and authentic connection to the math.

When students generate their own data and interact with it, they begin to see math not as a foreign language but as a lens to explore their own experiences.

Leveraging the Power of Data

In today’s data-driven world, integrating data science into high school math is not just beneficial — it’s essential. From epidemic trends to sports analytics, data is shaping how we understand everything from health to human performance.

It’s important to introduce students to authentic datasets they can analyze and interpret. Whether it’s Olympic sprint times over the last century or local climate patterns, such data helps students recognize patterns, make predictions, and ask deeper questions. This isn’t just about numbers ,it’s about making sense of the world.

Understanding trends also provides opportunities to introduce advanced mathematical concepts in approachable ways. For example, tracking the decreasing winning times in Olympic events can spark a discussion about asymptotes, encouraging students to hypothesize about the limits of human performance.

By connecting mathematical models to real-world phenomena, students develop both critical thinking and curiosity — two vital ingredients for lifelong learning.

Broadening Career Pathways with Math

Making math relevant also means helping students see the wide range of careers it can open. Traditionally, high school math has been geared toward students preparing for calculus and STEM-related fields. But this path represents only a fraction of the opportunities available in today’s job market.

Schools should consider broadening students’ mathematical experiences to include data science, quantitative reasoning, and statistical thinking. These areas are foundational for careers in business, healthcare, marketing, social sciences, and more.

This doesn’t mean abandoning calculus — it means expanding our definition of what it means to be “college and career ready” in mathematics. Some students may still follow the calculus track, but others may thrive in pathways rooted in data analysis and statistics. By offering multiple options, schools empower more students to pursue math-related careers that align with their interests.

Creating a Culture of Student Agency

One of the most powerful ways to make math engaging is by allowing students to take the lead. When students are encouraged to create, explain, and reflect on their work, they move from passive recipients of knowledge to active problem-solvers.

Even small shifts in classroom practice can foster this kind of ownership. For instance, in a lesson on adding/subtracting integers, instead of giving students a problem and asking for the solution, try giving them the answer and asking them to create different problems that lead to it. If the answer is “-4,” students might be challenged to find two numbers that add to -4, or to do so in a way no one else in the class has done. This invites creativity and deepens their understanding of operations and number sense.

Personalization doesn’t always require sophisticated technology. It starts with providing opportunities for students to express their thinking, explore multiple approaches, and take pride in their mathematical identity.

Reimagining Instructional Practices

To support personalized and relevant learning, teachers must also feel empowered to try new approaches, which can be done through pedagogical flexibility — creating space for exploration, discourse, and collaborative problem-solving.

NCTM’s Principles to Actions outlines eight effective math teaching practices, such as encouraging meaningful discourse, posing purposeful questions, and supporting productive struggle. These practices help teachers move beyond rote instruction and toward classrooms where every student can see themselves as capable and creative mathematicians.

Relevance in Math Matters

Ultimately, making high school math relevant isn’t just about increasing test scores or student interest — it’s about preparing young people to be thoughtful, informed participants in a complex world.

Math instruction should inspire students to ask questions, analyze information, and approach problems with confidence and a sense of curiosity. By embedding real-world applications, encouraging personal ownership, and offering diverse career pathways, educators can turn math classrooms into spaces of empowerment and possibility.

As schools look to redesign their math programs for the future, the message is clear: relevance matters. And with the right strategies, teachers can help students discover the beauty and utility of mathematics in their own lives — and the world around them.