Watching the "Easy Miura-Ori Origami Tutorial" was very similar to a lesson I did with my Grade 8's a few weeks ago. We have a new group of international students from Japan and they were really excited about teaching their new friends how to fold origami. We watched this TED-Ed video first: https://www.ted.com/talks/evan_zodl_the_unexpected_math_of_origami?language=en
When I was looking at the video about orbifolds and shibori dyeing, I was overcome by a sense of relief. I've avoided tie-dying for years, because it stresses me out to have such random patterns being created at my fingertips...I feel like I've finally found the answer to this in the patterns created by Carolyn Yackel.
Exploring Ratios and Sequences with Mathematically Layered Beverages was a new take on "math with food". It's very common that we use baking as a food example of mathematics; having students measure out ingredients and calculate conversions is a hands-on way to work with the concepts being covered in class.
I really appreciate the desire to use food as a "vehicle for conveying mathematical ideas to the general public" (519). The main purpose of the workshop was to have students use beverages to represent different mathematical fractions, ratios, and sequences. Discussions surrounding the amounts of sugar to the amount of beverage opened up the path to deeper understanding of concepts. Different layers and colours led to exploration around ways to represent certain sequences, including the Fibonacci sequence!
The nice thing about the activity in the article is the very visual and kinesthetic way to grasp math concepts that are often misunderstood by students. The fear around fractions is universal, but this way of representing shows the different pieces that go into equivalent fractions very clearly!
Overall I can't say that this week really captured me. I like the movement and rhythm from past weeks, and this week feels like it has the potential to be more confusing than helpful. But maybe that's just me?
I'd love to hear your thoughts! How has this week challenged you? Are there ways you plan to use this week's activities in your classes?
*Pictures of activity to come. Phone died, so will update tomorrow!
How fortunate to have international students from Japan that were excited about the origami exploration! It must have been powerful to have them teach others about origami. What a way to make a connection between the students and allow for the opportunity of strengths to support stretches. It also creates a community where everyone gets to know a bit about each other...good teambuilding!
ReplyDeleteTye dying can be overwhelming, I thought the same...until I saw my colleague do the activity last Spring with the grade 6/7 class. I talked to her about this week's module, and she is super excited to hear our exploration into shibori dying! We are going to work together to create an activity with grades 6 to 9 challenging the grade 8/9 class to do shibori dying as the grade 6/7s do tye dying. My collegue makes the dye from dried flowers harvested from the school garden so it will be interesting to see how we can pull different mathematical concepts from the experience.
The article you read interested me as well and I hope to read it over spring break. We have a fantastic kitchen in our school that is used mostly Wedensdays and Thursdays, so I can plan an activity as explained in the article and do it in the foods room!
Hi Fiona. I love it when we have international students in our classes. The knowledge, ideas, and experiences that they share is fantastic and I find my local students love to hear about it.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite drinks comes from Ireland, where they mix Guinness beer with a cider. You can play with the proportions to get the right color mixture, and depending on the liquids, it sometimes results in very interesting combinations. I have done something similar with food - specifically with Jello or ice cream. Always a big hit with the kids. What I like about these activities is the opportunity for students to really dig deep and try to make mathematical connections with what they are creating. Taking it a step further - having students develop their own signature drink or food item, with names and all would be a lot of fun.