Math Trail
Essential Question: How does math help us understand the natural world?
Translation from Norwegian:
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Nature Trail
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Question 1
What is the name of this type of tree?
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A: Pine
B: Spruce
C: Birch
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Send answers to: ha427@kirken.no
We will choose a winner April 6th
This summer, my partner and I traveled to Norway to visit his extended family. During our trip, we attended a folk midsummer festival at an old farmstead in Sigdal. As part of the festival, we participated in a natursti, or a nature walk. First, we collected a sheet from the organizers to write down our answers. Then we walked the perimeter of the farmstead, stopping to answer each question, like the kind shown above. The questions were mostly about the natural life in the area, like the names of mushrooms, birds, and fish. A few questions were more numeric. We were asked to guess the number of peas in a jar, the weight of a hanging stone, and the length of a block of wood.
To find the length of the block of wood, our group discussed what we could compare it to. I knew that my handspan (a useful measurement if you knit or sew!) is 8 inches, and that there are 2.54 centimeters in an inch, so my hand was a ~20 cm reference. The block was about one and a half handspans, so we knew to select the answer closest to 30 cm.
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This whole process got my math-senses tingling. The questions, while simple, were asking us to look quantitatively at the world around us. In order to find the length of the wood block, my group had made sense of a problem and used an appropriate tool strategically. What kinds of tools might help us answer the other questions? (I certainly didn't have access to a scale, but could I find or make something with a known weight given the resources available? How would I model the peas in the jar?) More broadly, if we were to make one of these 'natursti' quizzes, what mathematical questions about the world around us could we imagine? And how could we find the answers to those questions?
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In this project, students would explore a hiking trail or outdoor space and pose mathematical questions about it. They would then discover the answers and explain in-depth how to find them. Products would include a playable 'natursti' in an outdoor space with the questions available for the public to interact with, and written explanations/diagrams of how to find the answer. For exhibition, students could be "trail guides" and take their friends and family through the trail, serving as experts to explain the mathematical reasoning.
Some potential student questions, and topics to link to:
- How steep is this hill? (slope and rate of change)
- How much wood is in this tree? (measurement and volume)
- How much does this rock weigh? (measurement, volume, and density)
- If you dropped a rock off this ledge, how long would it take to hit the ground? (quadratics)
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This project would be a great opportunity to collaborate with a science class and explore how math is a tool in biology, physics, chemistry, and/or earth science. Students could create a mix of math and science questions.
