Art and Math

One thing I really appreciated about my field teacher this semester was her willingness to integrate mathematics and art. I love this because I believe it allows children who may otherwise struggle with the algorithms of math, to make connections to the patterns and beauty that are inherent to the study and understanding of math concepts.

When working on remediation in measuring to the nearest inch and half inch, the teacher had students practice this way:

First they used a ruler to measure by half inch increments along one long side of an 11 x 17 inch paper. Then, they continued that pattern along the opposite long side of the paper. Using the ruler, students then connected the marks they'd made to draw straight lines of half inch width. This process was hard for some and required scaffolding.

Next students made two random curvy lines perpendicular in orientation to the straight lines. The coloring came last, and students alternated two colors to create this impressive design. These also made for a really neat, math-oriented bulletin board display.

Similarly, the teacher gave students a paper with eight dots to begin her unit on faces, vertices, and edges of geometric shapes. The students used rulers to connect every point to every other point and then colored within the shapes formed to complete this beautiful 8-Point Design.