Math Museums on the Internet
If you’re a math teacher looking to insert more fun into your math class, bring your students to their computers and introduce the concept of a math museum.
The Goudreau Museum of Mathematics in Art and Science was founded by Bernard Goudreau in 1980. It is a learning and resource center for adults students and teachers, some 15,000 persons going through workshops, programs, special events and exhibits.
The Math Museum in particular lets students and families gain a better understanding of math and its concepts through scale models and geometric simulation.
Different activities you and your students can do in a math museum include:
- Build a math model
- Explore games and puzzles
- View exhibits demonstrating how math is used in the arts and sciences
- Experience challenging math programs and workshops
- Use the mathematics resource library
Another interesting site is More Than Math which integrates visual arts and mathematics. It introduces the similar concepts of arts and math like patterns, symmetry, proportion, perspective, balance and geometric form.
Developed by the Asheville Art Museum, in partnership with a Florida State University math professor, More Than Math even has professional development workshops and lesson plans for teachers in the interactive explorations.
The key works in the Asheville Art Museum used the More Than Math exhibit include Josef Albers’ 1972 Formulation: Articulation, a folio of 60 serigraphs, Anni Albers’ 1983 Connections folio of 10 serigraphs, and two works by geometric abstract painter Beatrice Reise.
To those interested in more information regarding visual math, check out:
- H.S.M. Coxeter, who revisited geometry and demonstrated its links to art and nature in various papers and the book Introduction to Geometry
- M.C.Escher, the graphic artist whose works are frequently used to illustrate mathematical ideas
- Helaman Ferguson, the American sculptor (and mathematician) who makes "mathematics in stone and bronze"
In these two examples, math offers your students a more engaging avenue for learning. One is through interaction (through games and math models), and the other is through discovery (art in nature, math in art).
This could even lead to more ideas on how to make math more exciting in your locality. A drawing session and art exhibit for your math class, perhaps? Or howabout a Math Week where the entire hallway becomes filled with interactive math games?
Sources:
”About the museum.” Retrieved November 11, 2009 from
http://www.mathmuseum.org/museum.htm
“More than Math.” Retrieved November 11, 2009 from
http://www.morethanmath.org/instructions.htm
“Why visual mathematics?” Retrieved November 11, 2009 from
http://www.mi.sanu.ac.rs/vismath/denes/den1.htm
(Published 01 December 2009, Smart Communications Inc.)
