Math in the Streets
Looking for a new way to liven up your math classes? Why not get them out of the classroom and take them to the streets?
Field trips - be they virtual or real - siphon off the drudgery of the classroom and open up students’ minds to the wonders of math. It is becoming increasingly popular among teachers.
In New York, for example, a mathematician named Glen Whitney is now the man behind “math tours” in Manhattan.
A former algorithm manager, he leads free tours around the neighborhood, with particular emphasis on math-related bits. This includes grandstands near the Lincoln Center with hyperbolic paraboloids of straight lines to form curved surfaces. Other examples are semicircular arches, centrally symmetrical benches, and traveling on New York roads by taking the hypotenuse through a grid.
Once in the tour, he even explained the logic behind pentagonal lug nuts and reverse-threaded screws. The tour ended in Columbus Circle, with mentions of Christopher Columbus and measurements of the earth.
With a method like this, teaching and learning math can surely be fun!
Why not try it at your neighborhood? Walk around after class, and take into consideration the many buildings that are of interesting design, or lampposts distributed along the street adhering to a specific measurement.
There are also several sources of information on math museums and trips online. This is called virtual math field trips which integrate mathematical experiences into a fun learning experience. They can solve problems to save the world, for example.
More often than not, these trips encourage critical thinking and math for a successful outcome. This is quite advantageous in that students should be well-equipped with these basic skills for a good academic and professional life.
You can check out:
- Franklin Institute Science Museum - has in-depth multimedia virtual exhibits and explorations.
- Road Sign Math – is a game to play while on a field trip bus by identifying signs that cover basic or advanced arithmetic.
- Baking Bread- a virtual field trip for the math class on measurement concepts
- Max's Math Adventures - a collection of virtual field trips for children
- Scholastic Math Field Trips – has great virtual math field trips for all ages
- Sense and Dollars- a useful way to enlighten students on how credit cards work or how personal finances can be managed. This is a fun, interactive website for learning about personal economics.
Sources:
“Classroom trips.” Retrieved November 11, 2009 from
http://www.thinkport.org/Classroom/trips.tp
“Field trips.” Retrieved November 11, 2009 from
http://mathforum.org/library/resource_types/fieldtrips/
Paumgarten, Nick. “Math-hattan.” Retrieved November 11, 2009 from
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2009/08/03/090803ta_talk_paumgarten
(Published 01 December 2009, Smart Communications Inc.)
