Math Modeling is an innovative approach used to create unique solutions to a wide range of real-life situations. To bring more attention to math modeling and its applications, math enthusiasts around the world have incorporated the idea into their teachings to make math less intimidating and more exciting. Dr. Maria Droujkova, founder of Natural Math, has been leading math modeling classes online for elementary school girls in grades 3-6 for Orlando Math Circle. During class, she has used different teaching platforms, such as Scratch, Excel, GeoGebra, along with artwork and videos by Vihart to allow girls to experiment with expressing mathematics in different ways. In her class for exploring the creation of math stories, she used artwork from the Bridges Conference, presented different shapes with Geogebra, and used prefixes and roots to form new words using Excel which helps encourage them to create their own explanations and stories.
Prefixes not commonly applied to certain shapes, such as “tri” were used to form new combination words such as “tricircle,” and math stories created by the girls allowed them to write from their unique perspective, inspired by a shape or activity highlighted during class. In addition, her presentation included artworks that embraced mathematical patterns and geometric shapes, which was a wonderful way of connecting the simultaneous beauty present in both math and art. This familiarization of different topics, tied together through math, will help students form math models of their own. Through Dr. Droujkova’s teachings, math modeling has presented itself as a way for students to gain a newfound perspective, creativity, and confidence. Just as Dr. Droujkova used a variety of topics connected through math in her classes to help girls create their own stories, we will reference the reading and analytical elements of The Number Devil to encourage middle school girls in our OMC Special Projects Class to create something of their own. We are looking forward to seeing what collaborative math creation will come as a result of these explorations, whether it be a page for our Journal, an original math story, or perhaps even an illustrated math comic. We will be sure to tell you all about it.
Author : Emerson S
