Abstract:

Importance and efficiency of including applied problems in teaching mathematics at high schools is quite often discussed. This article tries to prove that it is necessary to classify the types of applied problems and to use mainly illustrative and motivational problems. It is supposed that the main objective of mathematics’ curriculum for the majority of students at high schools is to teach the students to think abstractly and to cope with mathematical techniques. When teaching complicated application problems, it is necessary to use mathematical modelling methods. That demands highly proficient teachers cooperating across the different fields and also coordination of contents of all the involved subjects. And last but not least also the adequate teaching time in all the subjects. Interestingly, the overuse of “the everyday problems” in normal mathematics lessons might be counterproductive as some recent studies show.

On the other hand, the growing demands on quality in teaching technics and science are accompanied by increased emphasis on reforms in education in these fields. At the same time, making the education more interesting for the students becomes a priority. Experts on education, teachers and some of the institutions focus on modern teaching methods that associate Science, Technology, Engineering a Mathematics and that are known under an abbreviation STEM. These methods are rarely included in classwork in the Czech Republic. The possibility and usefulness of joint education of informatics, mathematics and physics and the application of STEM methods in high school curriculum will be discussed in this article.

Keywords:

Mathematics, applied problems, STEM.