This video would be a great one to show in class when discussing different shapes and where we see them in nature. It is also perfect for discussing area of shapes and comparing different shapes based on their size and area and how easily they connect to one another.

Too often I hear “why do I have to learn this” in math, so this is an excellent way to express the importance of shapes in helping bees to produce and preserve their honey. This is a great lesson to cross with Science as well!

Then we try to find others who might have the same type of pattern some how and compare! 

I LOVE THIS ACTIVITY! It is so fun for them to see math in everyday things! 

STEM Series - Math in Nature - Part 2

I haven't had too much experience teaching math in nature but I found the following videos which I thought were pretty interesting and a great hands on activity for students to identify math in nature. 

One of the techniques Betty Edwards teaches is that faces are mathematically proportional. 

This is something Leonardo da Vinci experimented with. He measured a large number of people to come up with the proportional measurements of peoples faces, and bodies. In his notebooks he writes:  ‘The space between the mouth and the base of the nose is one-seventh of the face. The space from the mouth to the bottom of the chin is one-fourth of the face and equal to the width of the mouth. The space from the chin to the base of the nose is one-third of the face and equal to the length of the nose and to the forehead.’ (You can see this in the Vitruvian Man).

If you do teach this lesson, students might be interested to know that the animation studio, Pixar, also teaches a class on drawing to its employees (Note: They are not all artists--although many are). They use the Betty Edwards technique. They say that it doesn't teach people to draw--as much as it teaches them a new way to see. 

I had students bring in their favourite action figures/dolls to class. We took measurements of their feet, calves, legs, waist, arms...etc. We then took Canadian averages and scaled the action figures to size. Once we scaled all of our measurements, we created a visual representation of our "life-like" action figures and dolls on butcher paper. The proportions were ridiculous! This lead to some excellent conversations around media and body image. 

I didn't use this video in class, but it describes a similar exercise with Barbies. 

It also ties in to the affects of what we eat and how it becomes part of our whole bodies (teeth and saliva too). Inquiry: Why can't most people keep birch biting art that they made for very long? (Our food is impure and interacts with the bark of the tree differently than if we lived purely from the land).

Ojibwe: Mazinibaganjigan, plural: mazinibaganjiganan) is an Indigenous artform made by Anishinaabeg, including Ojibwe people, Potawatomi, and Odawa, as well as Cree and other Algonquian peoples of the Subarctic and Great Lakes regions of Canada and the United States. Artists bite on small pieces of folded birch bark to form intricate designs.

Students to working in groups will foster more of an Indigenous approach to teaching/learning.

Students use fingertip (or ruler, meter stick) to show where the lines of symmetry are.

Samples or work adapts to the senses and allows students to feel, see, smell the product.

Brainstorm what symmetry, and lines of symmetry are. 

Inquiry: Where does mother nature provide us with symmetry, how do we know it is symmetrical? Students can collect symmetrical items from nature and display them around the classroom, store them in a scrapbook, or even make a classroom mural of symmetry.

Where do we see symmetry in other Indigenous art forms where symmetry is evident (Star blankets, moccasins, beadwork, Métis flower beadwork).

-Nature Walk Mandala

A few years ago my learners were really interested in mandalas and their passion tied with my recent work facilitating at our boards Arts Camp (where an amazing teacher created an eco art program) led to us making eco-mandalas.

This project was able to hit expectations within the art, math (specifically geometry and measurement) and science curriculum. You can also encourage learners to find mandalas that already exist in nature and really dive into the historical and spiritual significance of them. We spent some time planning our mandalas, a few days travelling around our community and collecting materials (only found material was allowed) and then a morning creating them in the forest behind our school (where a lot of our learners go to learn, FDK goes on regular walks). It was a great community building activity for us as a class and we also hosted a walkthrough for the classes at our school, which was great. Many of the mandalas managed to last for a while (we did this activity in the spring) and lots of members of the community commented on how neat they were!

You can also use this for the younger grades (patterning and symmetry link) and in our current virtual world you can ask learners to create one in their own space using things they found outside or on walks and send you a picture.  

Example:

Which puddle is deeper? How might we use a stick to measure the puddle? 

What do you notice about that stump (maybe the size, comparing it to others, the rings)

Do you notice a pattern on that tree, bug, flower? 

Here are a few pictures from our outdoor learning where students noticed the math. It is all about exploring and having conversations with our students.

The author Deanna McLennan also has an excellent set of books that I love to use to explore math in nature.  It is geared toward early years and primary.  I highly recommend them!