MATHEMATICS
Teaching ideas based on New York Times content.
Overview | How can we “reintroduce” ourselves to math so as to take the mystery out of numbers and start thinking of numbers and mathematics as helpful and useful instead of mysterious and inaccessible? How can math lovers convey the beauty and value of math in both concrete and abstract ways? In this lesson, students consider how math is indispensible and then develop and perform skits that illustrate how certain math concepts and processes can make life easier. They then respond to philosophical prompts about the value and qualities of math.
Materials | Student journals, computer with Internet access; video projection equipment, props for the skits (as needed)
Warm-up | Read students the following at the start of class:
I have a friend who [...] when it comes to math, [...] feels at sea, and it saddens him. The strange symbols keep him out. He says he doesn’t even know how to pronounce them.
In fact, his alienation runs a lot deeper. He’s not sure what mathematicians do all day, or what they mean when they say a proof is elegant. Sometimes we joke that I just should sit him down and teach him everything, starting with 1 + 1 = 2 and going as far as we can.
Tell them that this is an excerpt from a Times blog post they will read later. Ask students how many of them can relate to the friend in this story by asking for a show of hands, and invite students to share their personal associations with math. Ask why they think some people suffer from what is known as“math anxiety.”
