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In a global networking
project, students are eager to share information about themselves
and learn about the lives of their newly-found distant friends.
Students in the math project proposed an idea for introducing
themselves with a new twist: telling the story of their life through
numbers. In the math autobiographies students use numeric data
to tell others on the network about themselves, their families,
and the towns in which they live.
Below is an example of an autobiography (translated from Spanish)
written by 6th grade student Yaneiri Gonzalez, from Escuela de
la Comunidad: Antonio Velez Alvarado in Manatí, Puerto
Rico.
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My
numeric autobiography: Numbers in my life
I was born on August 5, 1984. It was the 8th month of the
year, with summer in all its splendor. This means that I
am nearly 12 years old, over 6 of which I have spent in
school. I can tell you that I weigh 77 pounds, but don't
quite reach 5 feet in height.
My
immediate family has 4 members. My dad is 30 years old,
my mom is 28 and my sister is 6. On my mother's side, I
am the oldest of her children. On my father's side, I am
the second of three.
The
favorite meal in our house is beef steak with white rice
and red kidney beans, but my favorite meal is rice with
green peas. My mom Janet tells me that when it comes to
food, I am like a reptile who can shed its skin a hundred
times and that my stomach is infinite.
When I grow up I want to be a judge or a marine biologist
in order to see the infinite that is life.
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In some
cases these autobiographies become guessing games for their partner
classes to practice their computational skills, such as this example
from Catalonia, Spain. As
you will also note, a "Just for Fun" Section of the
Math project invites interaction among all participants.
The following
is a class introduction from teacher Moisés Anguera Atset
and his students (ages 14 and 15) from the school "Mare de Déu
del Carme" in Cardona, Catalonia. The
students composed their introductions in Spanish and then did
their own translation to English. They also speak Catalán.
Just
for Fun
The students invite you to answer the questions
they ask and send them your solutions! Please send your
guesses to orillas-math@igc.org
Class
introduction from teacher Moisés Anguera Atset and
his students (ages 14 and 15)
School "Mare de Déu del Carme" in Cardona, Catalonia.
We are a group
of boys and girls in the third year of E.S.O. (Secondary
Obligatory Education.) In my class there are 28 arms. How
many people are there in my class?
In our class
are square of 3 girls and two times 2.5 boys. The class
has a shape hexagonal with six windows. Each person has
one table and there are 3 tables left over. How many tables
are there in total?
The average height
of the people in our class is 1m. and 69cm. Our school is
found in Cardona, in the Center of Catalonia (Spain). The
latitude of Cardona is 1º40 E and the longitud is 41º50
N. Our school name is "Col·legi Mare de Déu del Carme".
The name of our teacher is Moises. We have maths on Monday
at 09:30 to 10:30, on Tuesday from 12:00 to 13:00 and on
Thursday from 09:30 to 10:30. We have already finished the
whole numbers unit, the rational numbers unit, the real
numbers, and the first degree equations. Now we are in the
unit of equations with two variables.
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In other
cases, creativity in writing was fostered along with math skills
and awareness. As some students told the "math stories"
of their own lives, they were inspired to write imaginary tales
as well, such as a story about how a fairy godmother grants a
child's "math wishes." As you'll see in the examples
below, other classes dramatized their stoires, challenged their
classmates with math riddles, or composed math poems.
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My Numbers's
Game
Let's count
till ten, little by little!
O, the moon, a friend of mine,
One, a bout; for Two, a swan,
Three, some snowdrops for my mom
Four, red cherries in the sun,
Five, an apple, piece of fun!
Is gold acorn for Six?
But who is Seven? Do you know?
Eight, when the winter visit us,
A snowman is on the path.
Guess! Who is Nine?
The spring's bell who is mine.
Can you tell, what is Ten?
Maria Dumitru, Age: 8 School #10, Focsani, Romania
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From the high
school class of Virgilija Markeviciene
in Ukmerges, Lithuania
Our math students
participated in three different activities: surveys and
statistics, geography and graphs, and integrating language
arts and mathematics. The latter is more unique in that
it seems there is nothing common between Lithuanian and
mathematics. But creation of mathematical fairly tales is
the topic which can draw these subjects together. We learned
to create tales in the sixth form. The work is interesting,
so children worked very enthusiastically. We even dramatized
these tales.
Students created
stories about kings and fairies, and math riddles that had
to be solved in order to reach a goal. The following is
a drawing from a story about rational numbers, irrational
numbers, natural numbers and real numbers.
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Let's continue our
tour through the eyes of one participating math project teacher,
Meg Marino, and her students from Hawaiian Elementary Academy
of Research and Technology (Project HEART), of Hawaiian Gardens,
California. Hawaiian Gardens is a suburb of Los Angeles County.
Meg taught second grade in 1999-2000, and third grade in 2001-2002.
Both classes participated in anticipation of integrating math
and technology as part of the school's Magnet Program in Science,
Math and Technology. All classes in the school had recently received
new computers with Internet access for the first time. Meg was
one of the first teachers to explore the potential for the new
technology, while building new technology skills.
 Click
here to visit Meg Marino's Class
After
you view Meg's pages, you will return to this page of the tour.
You may see more examples of progress and participation by Meg's
students in each phase of the project by clicking onto the photo
icon on subsequent pages of each phase of our Theoretical Framework.
In the
next series of pages, you will see a variety of examples from
international participant classes. Upon conclusion of the tour,
you may view these and more examples as you explore the "Connecting
Math to Our Lives" Website.
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