Chasing Vermeer Podcast

Chasing Vermeer was such a cool book to read and had so many math references that I found really exciting. I enjoyed working with Morgan Cocca and Lainna Loving in our literature circles.

Podcasts instead of Textbooks?!?!

I found the article to be interesting at first, and then I was appalled. The research study was a little concerning, because when someone takes on the challenge of learning a new language, they should be hearing it in addition to reading it. I thought that if this study had been conducted with the same results for any other content class I would be willing to give it a shot, but they were learning a language. I'm also concerned that podcasts are just like every website on the internet, and their quality varies greatly. If I wanted to experiment with this method myself, I would have to create my own or spend some time finding grade appropriate and factual podcasts. For there to be no difference between student outcomes in classes that use podcasts or textbooks, I'm not convinced I would want to teach math using podcasts. I do want to keep students engaged and will always try to use interesting teaching resources like videos, so I could find a place for a couple podcasts. I'm still very old-fashioned and really love textbooks, so it's going to take a lot more to convince me on this one.

Math in Art

I have already thought about creating a career unit in my math class to highlight all the ways adults use math in their jobs. Visiting the museum was a fun trip, because it got me thinking about all the way artists use math. In the Belleek Porcelain exhibit, I thought about how much detail went into sculpting the porcelain, but also how much precision must go into first creating the dough. This would be a great way to talk about ratios, fractions, and percentages. The ingredients work together and it is important to keep the ingredients in the right proportions. If too much liquid is added, the dough will not mold well or might not ever dry. If the dough is too dry, it might be too hard to shape. Doubling or tripling the recipe will result in different amounts of each ingredient, but again they need to be kept in the same proportion and increased by the same percentage. My class could also talk about how long it will take items to dry and if the time differs based on item size, temperature, or altitude. This could also end up being a fun project for students if this lesson was around a holiday. Once they created the recipe of a desired size, they could actually make porcelain ornaments for Christmas or other figurines for other holidays. While the porcelain collection in the Georgia Museum of Art was mostly white, there could be other math lessons in colored porcelain or painting the figures. Paint is also made with certain ingredients in a specific recipe so that the liquid dries with the particular characteristics. Incorporating art with something they could actually see and create would be a fun project for any aspiring artists being forced to take math in middle school.