Math is in Everything

As any of my students will tell you my favorite words of encouragement are "well done". In fact, it has beeen known in years past for students to have informal competitions to see how many 'well done's they can get on one paper.

So a hearty 'well done' to all the graduate students in my Teaching Mathematics in the K - 8 Classroom course this semeester for the wonderful eNotebooks they have all completed. I don't think I have ever had such a variety of topics before as the list below illustrates.

Brewing and Math - Scott  Football and Math - Ira Curling and Math - Pat Origami and Math - Gretchen Comic Books and Math - Steven Burlingtonian Math - Micky Art, Nature and Math - Claire Knitting and Math - Kris Motorcycles and Math - June The Roman Empire and Math - Joe Lax and Math - Kevin Three Course Meal and Math - Stephanie Theatre and Math - Marcy
Arthurian Lore and Math - Karyn Math in the Garden - Aurelia Math and Yoga - Kate
The Math of Jane Austen - Julie

The assignment is designed to help students see how math is a part of the world in which we live in all it's wondrous diversity and not just for "balancing a checkbook". It is my hope that children will also see how math is an everyday part of their lives so that they never have to ask the question "when am I ever going to need this?". Most of the things we learn in school are not really needed in the strictest sense of the word; they just make our lives better, richer and more worth while.

Maths is Everywhere

One of the fundamental cornerstones of my teaching is to help my students see how math has real world applications in just about everything we can possibly experience. I am always surprised, and a little dismayed, when students list the main reasons for learning math as "balancing their checkbook", "doing taxes" or "making change". It would be like saying the only reason to learn to read would be to read instructions in manuals or read streetsigns. So to help my students come to this woderful realization I have them complete a Math eNotebook using some form of technology such as Powerpoint, Prezzie, or a blog. The students can choose any topic in which they have an interest and then gather 12 interesting  math-related things in their presentation.

This year my undergraduate students presented a wonderful diversity of topics. Here they all are;

Soccer and Math- Aris
Fibonacci Math- Emily
New York and Math- Helen
Music and Math - Jenn
Chocolate Cake and Math - Katherine
Maple Sugaring and Math - Kathryn
Monkeys and Math - Leanna
Pennies and Math - Lydia
Wedding Math - SaraJapan and Math - Zach

Here are all the archived math enotebooks .