#4397. Meet the Mathematicians

Reading/Writing, level: Senior
Posted Mon May 18 07:22:49 PDT 2009 by Susan San Leove (Susan San Leove).
High School, Jacksonville, FL
Materials Required: computer for research, imagination.
Activity Time: depends on research
Concepts Taught: Learn about mathematicians through research and creative writing.

Lesson: Meet the Mathematicians
Background: research related
Subjects: Cross curricular--this works well across the curriculum. Work with your math teacher to see if your students understand the concepts.
Choose 4 mathematicians/scientists. I chose Fibonacci, Pythagorus, Archimedes and Sophie Germain. Students research works and theories by each. Rather than a typical research paper, I had my students (Freshmen) write a childrens story based on the books "How Much Is a Million" and "Sir Cumference".
Read the books first to your class so that they have an understanding of what you are looking for. Through their creative writing and story telling, have students write a childrens story to be read to younger grades (field trip?). Have students illustrate their books and be sure that the concepts are easy enough to follow for the younger audience.
My students worked in collaborative groups of 4 per group with each contributing to the story as a whole. I was able to use this as an alternate form of assessment with concepts that we have been studying all year long.