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Overview
Innovative, hands-on math and science activities of many cultures, from one of the world's foremost science museums.Too often, the study of science, math, and technology is limited to the major successes of the Western world. Yet people all over the world have observed and explored nature and developed technologies to help them in their everyday lives.
From the creators of the national bestseller and Parent's Choice Book Award-winner The Explorabook (over one million copies sold) comes Math and Science Across Cultures, designed to help teachers, parents, and youth-group leaders use hands-on activities to explore the math and science of different cultural traditions, and to make these subjects more relevant and approachable for children of all backgrounds. With instructions in this book, you can:
Β Construct a Brazilian carnival instrument and investigate the science of sound.
Β Play a peg solitaire game from Madagascar and learn about mathematical patterns.
Β Experiment with a traditionally prepared cup of Chinese tea and learn about energy flow.
Β Count like an Egyptian, decipher Mayan mathematical symbols, and decode the ancient Inca number system of knotted cords.
Author Biography: Maurice Bazin has taught physics at Princeton University and co-directed the Exploratorium's Teacher Institute. Modesto Tamez develops science curricula at the Exploratorium. Founded in 1969, the Exploratorium is San Francisco's innovative hands-on museum of science, art, and human perception, visited by over six hundred thousand visitors a year.
Synopsis
Innovative, hands-on math and science activities of many cultures, from one of the world's foremost science museums.
Too often, the study of science, math, and technology is limited to the major successes of the Western world. Yet people all over the world have observed and explored nature and developed technologies to help them in their everyday lives.
From the creators of the national bestseller and Parent's Choice Book Award-winner The Explorabook (over one million copies sold) comes Math and Science Across Cultures, designed to help teachers, parents, and youth-group leaders use hands-on activities to explore the math and science of different cultural traditions, and to make these subjects more relevant and approachable for children of all backgrounds. With instructions in this book, you can:
• Construct a Brazilian carnival instrument and investigate the science of sound.
• Play a peg solitaire game from Madagascar and learn about mathematical patterns.
• Experiment with a traditionally prepared cup of Chinese tea and learn about energy flow.
• Count like an Egyptian, decipher Mayan mathematical symbols, and decode the ancient Inca number system of knotted cords.
Author Biography: Maurice Bazin has taught physics at Princeton University and co-directed the Exploratorium's Teacher Institute. Modesto Tamez develops science curricula at the Exploratorium. Founded in 1969, the Exploratorium is San Francisco's innovative hands-on museum of science, art, and human perception, visited by over six hundred thousand visitors a year.
KLIATT
This book is predicated on the view that mathematics and science education in the U.S. would benefit from an increase in exposure to cultures other than Western European. It aims to be a resource for teachers of students age 10 and above, providing lessons and activities that relate to mathematics and science but are set in cultures from around the globe. The activities, developed with support from the National Science Foundation and in collaboration with the Exploratorium Teacher Institute, are inquiry-based and hands-on, generally requiring two or more hours for all of the parts of an activity. In some cases the topics relate directly to mathematics and science in other cultures, such as the chapter on counting systems and calendars. These topics also add an element of archaeology to the math being studied. Other activities develop ideas about a science or math topic in a non-Western cultural setting, but are not specifically related to the math and science of that culture. For example, the second activity explores the math and physics of music, but uses the Brazilian cuica as the musical instrument to study. All of the activities are active and hands-on, involving building something, doing experiments, or exploring patterns in drawings and sets of numbers. I recommend this book to teachers who are looking for fun learning activities that go beyond the typical context-free problems and Western cultural orientation of many textbooks, and who can arrange for the time involved to prepare for and do these activities. KLIATT Codes: P Recommended. 2002, New Press, 176p. illus. bibliog., Downey