The Art in Math

  

Reflection 5

                I got inspired by the drawing and representing math module to write this blog for today. The word drawing simply stood out to me and I thought why not connect art and math together? This idea can give a way to even incorporate cross-curricular activities. After I had this idea, I searched up ways to teach math with arts, and I definitely found many interesting ways to do that.

                I think teaching math with art is an excellent strategy. It can include diverse types of learners. Using art can improve retention of key concepts and vocabulary as well. If you incorporate art with math lessons you are engaging the students and they can also have fun at the same time.

Benefits of Drawing

                Do you remember times when you would read a problem again and again but you weren’t able to grasp it? Sometimes just reading a problem out of a text book can make you lose focus, especially if you are not understanding it. So, if you draw the situation, it causes you to internalize what the problem really is asking for. It can also help us how to proceed. The process of drawing out a problem can help students out in other subject areas too; it can also help them later down the road.

For example: a student is taking science in high school and it is on physics concept. Drawing a picture of every single problem in physics is really important. Drawing helps you put all the ideas together to make it concise and easy to proceed to the next step in solving the problem.

                Drawing acts as an intermediate step between language-as-text and the symbolic language of mathematics. By representing visually, students can start to think about the problem mathematically. Hence, drawing is an important part of mathematical communication.

Math with Art Examples

1.       Math Stories Here is the fun part of math, so how can you include art in math? I found a really interesting idea from a website called Teacher Support Force that mentions math stories. Math stories are about drawing a story out of a given problem to help a student internalize the problem. It can also help with memory, so that students are able to recall the concepts!

2.       Geometry When you think of the word geometry you think of shapes right away as well. Does shape have anything to do with art? Of course it does! Students can learn geometry by drawing and/or creating shapes themselves. This way they have experience doing it and can visually see it.

3.       Patterns You can have an activity with the students where you ask them to draw patterns that they see in the real world, such as the spirals on snail, and connect them to math patterns. At the end, they will see the connection between math and patterns in the real world. They will be able to recognize that math is all about patterns and you can see it all around you.

4.       Vocabulary If students draw the new vocabulary words that they learn in math they can retain it better as well. Here is a really awesome example:

Image retrieved online from Teaching Math With Art - Teacher Support Force. (2011). Retrieved October 22, 2016, from http://www.teacher-support-force.com/teaching-math-with-art.html

There are many ideas out there that can help you combine math and art. It can be really helpful for students who want to understand math concepts. It can gear toward diverse types of learners as well. It is an excellent learning strategy to learn for other subjects as well, inlcuding language- when you want to draw story boards for example.

References

Teaching Math With Art - Teacher Support Force. (2011). Retrieved October 22, 2016, from http://www.teacher-support-force.com/teaching-math-with-art.html

Gibson, J. Top 10 Strategies for Improving Math Grades at Any Level. (1998-2015). Retrieved October 22, 2016, from http://www.mathgoodies.com/articles/improve_your_grades.html

Problem Solving: Draw a Picture - TeacherVision.com. (2000-2016). Retrieved October 22, 2016, from https://www.teachervision.com/math/problem-solving/48931.html