Entrance Slip: Meaningful Math

Please blog on the ways that you think that bodily experiences might or might not be helpful in learning aspects of mathematics and physics. Are we using movement, sensory experiences, gestures and embodied ways of learning as resources in our classes? Could we do so? 

I believe that experiencing bodily experiences is the only way to solidify or make sense of mathematical and physical concepts. At least for me. When learning about abstract concepts on the subject of mathematics, I do not immediately learn from the definitions. I need time to put the pieces together in my head or to see the image/geometry of it. For reference, even the two triangles example on page 67 of Henderson and Taimina's article, I could not fully appreciate the law until I saw an image of two triangles in figure 7. I would bet that most people are similar in the way they perceive given information. We all try to relate the fact to an image or animation that we recognize. After, we have the moment in our brain where we claim "Ah yes, this makes sense." 

 

This is most evident with concepts such as forces and kinematics in physics. Most of the problems looked at for practice problems and examples for the class relate to our own experiences (walking, driving vehicles, dragging boxes, shooting projectiles). A teacher rarely recommends an abstract setting for their provided physics problems when students are learning a new concept. It would be a step backwards and confuse the students. Concepts such as electricity, the flow of electrons, is something students cannot see and usually, they have a harder time grasping the concept because it is more abstract. That's why teachers will use analogies such as a flowing river of electrons, to help with the visualization of what is going on. 

There are more involved ways of getting the bodily experience in the classroom. For physics, I believe it is easier. There are many ways to get students in motion and lots of demonstrations and labs that use these concepts (magnets, van de graaff generator, projectile launch pad, circuit boards). 

For mathematics, it is less obvious i think. As we have learned so far, inquiry method learning is a more beneficial for the students then the teach and calculate method. Maybe exploring the mathematical properties of objects and there shapes would help students in the learning process and make more relational connections between math and the world.