SCORE Mathematics
Mathematicians and Scientists
Treasure HuntEldred Marshall Introduction
The students will match a fact with a mathematician or scientist using the Internet.
Prior Knowledge
The students should be familiar with how to use the Internet as a resource for information.
Grade Levels 7-12
CA Mathematics Framework:
According to the Framework, all students should connect their own lives to the historical and cultural settings in which mathematics has developed and continues to grow. Students must receive a balanced picture of the range of careers that depend on mathematics and the diversity of the people who have played a role in mathematics and science. Historical enrichment should go beyond biographies and include cultural connections to mathematics, from the pyramids of the ancient Egyptians (who were black) to the to the Mayan calendar to the Konigsberg bridges to the Towers of Hanoi.
The Task
The student will go to read about a mathematician or scientist that happens to be female or a person of color. The student is to match the mathematician or scientist with a fact that has come from the reading.
Resources
The Process
The teacher should make sure that students have access to computers that are linked to the Internet. The number of such computers available will determine the time that it will take for the assignment to be completed. At the beginning of the assignment the student worksheet should be passed out.
Learning Advice
The teacher should discuss with the students how math and science books did not fall out of the sky. Math and science was discovered by men and women of all colors who struggled against adversity over time to solve problems that would lead to the advancement of humanity. This is important because the United States in culturally diverse. Muticultural education is not only critical as a motivator for students of color and females to get engaged in the learning process, but to enhance respect from those who are not.
Evaluation
The worksheets should be evaluated individually.
Extensions
This lesson can be extended several ways. The students could write full reports on a favorite mathematician or scientist. The interdisciplinary possibilities with social studies and language arts are myriad. The math and science departments could set up a fair made up of interactive stations similar to Frisbie's Middle School Multicultural Math Fair.
Conclusion
The students should come away from this assignment with a greater appreciation of self and others, which will not only enhance self-esteem but will foster social harmony. The students should also realize that advancement as an indivdiual and as a society only comes by overcoming adversity and working together for the greater common good.
Go to Worksheet Copyright © Kings County Office of Education
SCORE Webmaster