Intro
The intro this week had me thinking about the exclusions of math. Reading about the math in crafts and skills that were traditionally viewed as women's activities also made me revisit a short disagreement that I had with my younger sister over the Christmas holidays (that's what the holidays are for, right?). She made a joke that fit into the theme of a trend on social media called "girl math" that I did not look more into after her explanation. I came back at her explaining how detrimental that can be for many females, especially young ones, and backed it up with statistics behind the myth that men are better at math. I say short disagreement because she called me a nerd and changed the subject.
Orbifolds
I chose this video mostly out of curiosity. Not knowing what an orbifold was (I even had a moment where I found out why it's called "tie-dye") kept me engaged through the presentation, learning of all of the different possible designs. The beauty of symmetry was on full display, and very accessible through this medium. I further enjoyed how they explained how to get the specific transformations in the patterns (cut to get a rotation for example). Very interesting, and something that I may try in the future.
Activity
For the activity, I had watched the Mathologer video on a variety of ways to lace your shoes. I did not find the video very accessible, especially considering that I was hoping to have my Grade 6 students try it out. The speaker did refer the viewers to "Ian's Shoelace Site", where Ian shows many ways to both lace and tie the shoes. I set up a Google Classroom assignment, with several pictures of lacing as a hook. The students then browsed the site, chose a lacing to try out, attempted the lacing, then attempted to tie their shoes differently as well. The range of reactions for the task were very mixed, from "this is the best math class ever" to literally breaking down into tears (oddly enough, both of those students had frayed tips to their laces, a problem that I had not thought of until after they started). In doing the activity with the students, I kept one of my shoes with a new pattern, and am hoping that a few students found some interest in their new patterns, and might be able to see the math in their shoes everyday.
Reading - Exploring Ratios and Sequences with Mathematically Layered Beverages - Andrea Johanna Hawksley
I have learned many different examples of embodied learning throughout the course. We've discussed learning math through a variety of senses, but primarily through seeing, feeling, and hearing. This reading discusses the possibility of being able to taste your math. What an interesting concept, to be able to taste a fraction or a number sequence.
Exploring ratios with layering beverages was visually accessible to me when beginning to read the article. Going further to think of number sequences through layering challenged my thinking. The author speaks of lemon juice vs. sugar, with adding food colouring to the layers for easier identification. The more sugar the liquid contained, the lower it would be, therefore the drink would be sweeter as you continue to drink it. The author gives an example of making lemonade according to the Fibonacci sequence, going further to say that "we find that the ratio of sugar to lemon juice approximates the golden ratio...Fibonacci lemonade may be the world's first tastable example of the relationship between the Fibonacci sequence and the golden ratio!". Now there's food for thought.
I was fascinated by how layering beverages works. I knew that it involved the densities of the liquids, but didn't relate that to the amount of sugar each layer contains. I then questioned why their drinks contained so much ice, until later it was explained that "the ice cubes are there to slow down your liquid as it goes down the cup and to help keep the layers distinct". All this to say, it doesn't sound as hard as I thought it would be, and would be a great way to have students look at fractions and number sequences through a different lens.
What other ways could we layer sequences, or layer fractions for teaching? Simple coloured linking cubes come to mind for me, are there other ways that you've thought of?
References
Hawksley, A.J. (2015). Exploring Ratios and Sequences with Mathematically Layered Beverages. Proceedings of Bridges 2015: Mathematics, Music, Art, Architecture, Culture, 519-524.
https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/index.htm
Hi Pat!
ReplyDeleteYour reflection highlights two interesting points. Firstly, the exclusion of math from traditionally "feminine" activities like crafts is intriguing, and your reaction to your sister's comment showcases the importance of challenging such stereotypes. Secondly, your experience with the shoe lacing activity exemplifies the challenges and rewards of incorporating creative approaches, even with mixed student reactions. Overall, your reflection sparks questions about accessibility and diverse learning methods in math education.
Thats great to hear that you were able to try the activity with your class. Since this is a challenging activity for me (thanks to my own struggles with shoe lacing)- I am hesitant to try this activity with my class. I had same feeling about trying the dance activity in one of the earlier weeks - since thats not my comfort zone. This made me realise that in my practice i am focusing on teaching strategies that build upon my strengths and are in comfort zone. I am reluctant to try the activities that I find challenging myself - part of it is human nature, but part of could be that sometimes we get to comfortable in our regular routines, that trying out new things especially in a classroom setting puts us in vulnerable position and we try to avoid being in that position and our teaching practice becomes stagnant. Your post has made me self reflect about perhaps I could be trying out more out of comfort zone activities in my classroom. What might not be fun for me, might be the best way to learn for at least some of the students.
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