Using Current Events in the Classroom

Some teachers love to use current events in their classroom instruction.  Suzie Boss wrote an article in Edutopia about this very thing.  One of the examples she brought up was the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  A teacher used this disaster to facilitate instruction in her class.  She used it for math by having the kids estimate how many gallons of oil is being wasted by day, week month and so on.  The students were then to hypothesize solutions and discuss the effects of this oil spill.  This is a great way to connect real world issues with education.