The importance of math in life

The ‘Counted Out’ documentary examines the importance of math in society. The Aspen School District will host a screening of the documentary “Counted Out” next week to encourage students to engage with math outside of the classroom. The documentary explores civil rights, democracy and more through the lens of math.

It explains how proficiency in math can affect society’s ability to deal with challenges in health care, climate and elections. Aspen High School teacher Megan Noonan, who teaches International Baccalaureate math, said the film emphasizes that improving a student’s math education requires a collaborative effort from teachers, parents and communities. “Teachers play a key role in creating the engaging and student-driven learning environments that foster deep understanding rather than just procedural fluency in math,” Noonan said.



“But parents also have to be aware of how their bias about math can impact their children, and that they should be supporting a positive math mindset.” The documentary will be shown at the District Theater in Aspen Elementary School starting at 5:30 p.m.

Tuesday. It showcases real-world applications of math, and how not having access to an adequate math education can impact a person’s trajectory in life. “I think, for the Aspen kids, it’s good for them to see the variety of where other people in our society might not get the same opportunities that they have,” Noonan said.

“But also just sort of seeing how much math is important, because I’ve been teaching math for 27 years and it’s probably on a daily basis that some kid’s going to say, ‘When am I ever going to use this?’ “Every single (area) of study or anything they’re going to go into, whether it’s the workforce or into any other fields, is going to need statistical and quantitative reasoning skills,” she added. The documentary is most applicable to high school students, Noonan said, but families with students in all grades are welcome. It also will highlight the importance of the school district’s IB math curriculum, she said.

The district recently adopted a kindergarten-12th grade math curriculum called Illustrative Mathematics that prioritizes deep, conceptual understanding over memorization of math. Noonan said she is encouraging all of her students — those in both calculus and algebra classes — to attend the screening. “We have to change the narrative that not everybody’s a math person, that everyone can learn it for what they need, not only as an educated citizen, but just for understanding technology, understanding AI that we’re relying on so much these days,” Noonan said.

“And I think once the kids sort of see that relevance, it’s just going to hopefully open up their growth mindset to how they can persevere and dig deeper into math to make sense of it, but also apply it to their life.”.