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Fieldlearning
Dec. 26, 2005
Second Day of Christmas
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On the second day of Christmas the Fieldlearning blog gives to you, two websites about mathematics.
Visit the American Institute of Physics to find out about math connections to the 12 Days of Christmas song. How many gifts were there, anyway?
If you want to explore it further, especially with older students, using Pascal's triangle by visiting the Leadership Program in Discrete Mathematics.
If you do this little exercise, you'll know how many websites I'll have
to post in order to stay true to the song myself (don't count on it,
but I may try!)
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Nov. 12, 2005
Numbers, Nature, and Camelot
We are taking some time off from formal math instruction this year for a number of reasons. This doesn't mean we aren't doing math, we just aren't working lots of calculations. My 10 y.o. is reading Murderous Maths ; we are doing tangrams and origami and looking at Fibonacci numbers and patterns in nature.
To that end, we visited the North Museum of
science in Lancater last week as they have 2 exhibits currently that
focus on these concepts. The musuem and the exhibits are small, but the
admission price isn't high and you get in free if you are an ASTC
member (FI, Acad of Nat Sci). I really liked how they highlighted
objects in their permanent collection that related to spirals. (If you
go to Lancaster, see this post about some fun things to do downtown.)
I've found some resources both on-line and in books to enhance the
Fibonacci understanding. Just today I found out about a woman in
Australia who has made a connection between the golden ratio and King
Arthur tales, some scholars are taking it very seriously, others
aren't; read about it here.Now, if you are intriqued by Fibonacci, check out these links:My
daughter still hasn't said she likes math, but she has stopped saying
she hates it and I have caught her working problems from the Murderous
Maths on the sly!
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Jul. 25, 2005
Math in the Real World
Cynthia Clack at Graceful Journey
had a wonderful post the other evening chockful of resources to make
math come alive. If you are an unschooler except in the area of
math, you will enjoy her insights. But her post is inspiring
because she and her daughter see how math works and are thrilled by it.
It's here..
Since reading it a few days ago, I went to the library and checked out some of the recommended books. One book in particular, It's The Story That Counts: More Children's Books for Mathematical Learning, K-6
by Whitin and Wilde, has been full of ideas. So many that I may have my
ten year old's math curriculum for this year. She loves stories and
hates math, I'm hoping a literature approach to math will help her get
over the math hurdle. Some books they recommend highly are:
It's
not just about reading them. But reading them several times and then
drawing the child out to discover their own mathematical thinking. For
instance, Frank in Counting on Frank
wonders all kinds of things. How long a line will an average ball point
pen draw? Whitin and Wilde give examples of different directions kids
go with this kind of mathematical thinking. Some wonder how long a line
chalk will draw. Some want to figure out the answer in miles instead of
yards. Some might wonder how many pens it would take to draw a line
around the earth. The children then draw their story. All kinds of
mathematical concepts are being played with, but it is more focused on
what is already going on in the child and their reactions and questions
than a traditional text full of problems would be.
I'm really having fun with this. There will certainly be more later.
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