My Grade 11 Math Google Earth virtual field trip “Are We Using the Best Number Systems?” is directed towards the following instruction goal:
- Outcome 1 Demonstrate understanding of the mathematics involved in an historical event or an area of interest.
- Learning Concept : A well crafted driving question is essential to inquiry based learning.
It begins “at home” with an ordinary cash register receipt. This typical receipt is the culmination of centuries of mathematical progress yet the number systems used are taken for granted while at the same time they are unexamined. The tour moves to present day Pakistan to examine the origins of the decimal system using a Discovery Education (DE) video and writing prompt to encourage respect for Harappin and other Indian mathematicians and hopefully correct the mistaken belief that the Arabs alone invented the decimal system and zero. The tour stop at the World Clock encourages students to consider the irregularities of our system of measuring time. Stopping at the Googleplex in Silicon Valley gives students an appreciation of the binary system. The YouTube video offered supplies a novel and effective introduction to 2 based math which the students can practice immediately using the Google Earth measuring tool.
Originally, the 20 based number system would have been explored in Nunavut, as the Inuit used it. This honours our curriculum document as it explicitly states we must have a respectful approach to the wealth of mathematics in other cultures, particularly First Nations and Métis. While gathering resources, I recognized that the DE Mayan math video was a serendipitous discovery for developing the ethical and respectful mind. Not only is the Mayan math also First Nations, but because the Mayan had a system of writing it is more tangible than the Inuit who depended on oral traditions. The Mayan calendar is also explored in the video. (Students may already have an interest in the Mayan calendar as it ends in 2012. This would provide a fascinating tangential discussion.)
As students compare the First Nations Mayan 20 based number system to the 2 and 10 based systems as well as the calendar systems, there is wonderful potential to develop respect for the Mayans, especially, as students have just seen the European 10 based system was first developed by minds in the Middle East and those minds developed ideas rooted in the Far East. While the driving question chosen is “Are we using the best number systems?” another driving question is hinted at in the final picture of the tour, “Are mathematical discoveries inevitable?”
