 Connecting Math to Our Lives
Ages:
5-18
Languages: English, Spanish
Facilitator: Aileen Velazquez and Enid Figueroa, Puerto Rico, Kristin Brown, USA, Mariela Williams, Argentina
Contact: For more information about participating
in this or other iEARN projects, write to iearn@iearn.org or see http://media.iearn.org/projects  |
Math project participants in Russia. |
Math project participant in Iran. |
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Connecting Math to Our Lives
Contributions:
Usual curricular divisions in schools link math with science in isolation from the social studies and language arts curriculum. When mathematics is instead taught "across the curriculum," multiple opportunities arise to use math to uncover stereotypes, understand history, and examine issues of inequality. In previous years students conducted school and community surveys and made recommendations to address such controversial issues as violence, racism, child labor and girls' attitudes toward math. Other classes examined how people of different genders and ethnic groups are represented in the books in their school and city libraries and shared their data with the librarians and those making purchasing decisions. Participants contribute a report of their local project activities to the "Connecting Math to Our Lives" web pages. Together, students can create a database on an issue of global importance. Data is collected and analyzed by classes around the world. In addition, students may jointly create a mathematical art gallery to serve as a resource on culturally relevant teaching for math educators globally
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“Hi I'm Anano Nadareishvili. I'm from Georgia, Tbilisi. I'm 13, in the 8th grade and I'm Ketino Verulashvilis' student. I've became a member of iEARN few weeks ago. I've learned many interesting things from this project. When I worked on your project I've learned much about my culture and architecture. I've never noticed that there were any Geometric figures in my country's culture. I've never known that Djvary monastery was built using "Golden Section." I think that it was great idea to make project like "Connecting math to our life."
- Anano Nadareishvili
Student, Georgia
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Possible project/classroom activities:
a) "What Math Means to Me" (Product: A math collage to share with a partner class)
b) "Everyday Math in My Community" (Product: Report describing an interview. Or alternatively, student-written math story problems based on the ways their families use math.)
c) Statistics and Society (Product: Analysis of a graph or chart showing statistical or numeric data on a social, political, scientific, or environmental issue. Or a critical analysis of the way numbers and statistics are used in the media.)
d) Promoting Equity at Our School Site (Product: Report on the actions students have taken in their communities or schools to promote greater equity, including a brief summary of the data and analysis on which those actions were based.)
e) An Idea of Your Own to Connect Math to Your Day-to-Day Lives, to the Broader Society, and to Issues of Equity
f) Global Data Collection Activities
g) Virtual Gallery of Mathematics, Art, Culture, and Life (Product: A photograph, drawing, or other artistic expression of some aspect of your culture that you feel can play a role in promoting intercultural understanding, along with a text describing the item you have chosen and its connection to the world of mathematics.)
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