Problems that arise in the real-world allow for meaningful classroom discussions about social issues. Currently in Nova Scotia, there is an ongoing debate between Mi’kmaw and non-Indigenous fishers about the rules around when lobsters can be harvested.
The world beyond the classroom offers a wealth of interesting, relevant materials and spaces with opportunities for counting, sorting, patterning, reasoning, calculating, measuring, surveying, constructing, visualizing, problem-solving, modelling.
Seen through a mathematical lens, an aptly chosen text has the potential to trigger and support mathematical investigations into the workings of the physical world and our interactions within it.
Math is embedded in everyday life. “There is always math around us. It’s in the design of what we’re living in, in the schedule of our day, in the structure of how we organize our lives,” says Joan Moss, Professor Emeritus at the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study, OISE/UT.