As part of his lessons, he has incorporated ideas from the Career Education Responsive to Every Student (CERES) in order for students to utilize concepts that they learn in class and apply them to the canning industry.
The objective of Lesson One is to have students become aware of changes in surface area with a fixed volume. In order to begin showing students how these mathematical concepts relate to an occupation, students are asked to fill out the “Ten Things I Like To Do” worksheet based on jobs in the canning industry, see Figure 2. This enables students to think of what they are looking for in a job in terms of their own individual personality. They decide which job would best fit them and then research it on the Internet. In another activity inspired by CERES, students pretend that they have invented a new kind of canned food. When people eat this special food, they develop positive attitudes that would benefit them and everyone associated with them. This would also make their employer very happy to have hired them for the particular job. Students get to decorate the can and name the product, list the ingredients on one side and list what attitudes your product will produce on front.
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In Lessons 2 and 3 they examine in detail, using basic mathematical concepts, the surface area of the cans. Finally, each student chooses one type of can and determines radius and minimum surface area for that fixed volume. Then, they write a letter to the manufacturing company explaining calculations they used to reach their conclusion on a minimum surface area. Also, they either congratulate the company for using the least surface area possible which keep costs lower, or ask the company why they do not use the least surface area possible. Companies have written them back explaining their choices in designing the cans, which has offered a further understanding of how a business works to the students. Besides cost, companies need to look at other factors such as tradition, customer preference and manufacturing issues.
CERES helps teachers introduce career concepts into existing curriculum and helps students discover the relevancy of basic skills such as math in the real world of work. CERES focuses on connecting academic abilities to the world of work while helping students develop knowledge about career options and the U.S. economic system. This program helps create and reinforce positive attitudes toward work and helps in school retention.
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