Consider a day in your life.  From the moment you wake up in the morning you are using mathematics to make decisions.  Time, measurement, and basic facts run through our heads constantly (Do I have time to hit snooze one more time?  When do I need to leave the house if work is seven miles away? If I start dinner now what time will it be ready?), and ratios, operations, and geometry come into play as well (If I want to double this recipe, how much flour do I need?  How much water do I need in the pot to boil my pasta or make my rice? For my family of four, how many tacos should I order?) We use these concepts constantly in various informal settings; however, many learners struggle to make sense of the same concepts in formal mathematics classrooms. If we design mathematics experiences to bridge such student and family funds of knowledge (Moll et al., 1992) with traditional mathematics, we can provide greater access to complex mathematical ideas. Read more