Excursions in Mathematics is starting!

As part of the Great Global Project Challenge this opportunity provides your students a monthly excursion to a part of the world to learn about the influences and contributions to mathematics that impact our lives today. Take advantage of technology to cross geographical boundaries in order to connect, communicate, and collaborate with other educators.

There are three levels of Explorer: Novice, Skillful, and Experienced.  These are color-coded as well. Novice – Red, Skillful – Green, and Experienced – Blue. The Novice is for students around 2^nd – 4^th grades, the Skillful is for students around 5^th – 7^th grades, and the Experienced for students 8^th grade and above. As the teacher, you can pick and choose which of the tiles and content you students engage with.  You and your students can take as many excursions as you like.

Students will have the opportunity to work with their classmates during each excursion. They will also have the opportunity to collaborate with students from other classes. So encourage them to make comments and ask questions as they travel through each space. Then, they will create a summary Space to capture their experiences and ah-ha’s from their travels.

Excursion 1 kicks off October 3^rd.  Destination: Egypt and the Middle East. Students will have their own passport and will receive a stamp from you allowing them to enter each of the destinations. This month’s Journal is available for them to document their travels each month. Be sure they note where you see mathematics intersecting our daily lives.

Students will first have the opportunity to learn about the area, the people, and the history. Level appropriate sites are suggested. Suggested activities are provided as well as facilitation notes. The mathematics that can be explored this month focuses on the development four numeration system and practical geometry. From the sexagesima
l number system of the ancient Babylonians to the decimal system of the Egyptians students learn about the developments in mathematics that laid the foundation for our number system today. Students will investigate the Rhind Papyrus and work with one of the problems found there. Multiple representations provide the opportunity for students at all levels to work with and develop understanding of the mathematics behind the problem. The development of practical geometry from astronomy, farming, and surveying is shared. Students at all levels can see where mathematics still intersects our lives today as it did during the time of the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians.

Along the way there are suggestions for writing, questions to think about, mathematics to work, and reflections to make. The platform being used is Blendspace, by TES. Videos, webpages, pdfs, and images are just some of the media that students will encounter along the way. Blendspace provides a safe playground with high walls in which students can come together to investigate, research, learn, create, collaborate and share as I have set up a class just for this project.

To see the itinerary, schedule, and for links to the recordings of the overview sessions see the home page for the project here: http://bearhosting.com/~tljconsulting/excursions-in-mathematics/

I hope you can join us, or at least follow our progress each month. There is a world of mathematics just waiting to be explored!