Week 1 Activities + Connections

I've been keenly aware of how mathematics is found in daily activities since this program has encouraged development of vocabulary and noticing. Connecting math and body in my daily activities makes sense through my arts.

When painting, I need to ensure correct proportions or images feel off. This painting was based on a street mural in my hometown.

When doing swordplay, geometry is fundamental to personal safety. Timing for sword strikes must have rhythm in mind just like music and dance. 

In my classroom, we just finished a unit on measurement and conversions. The use of personal units of measurements prior to standardization is fascinating - like my own inch, foot, palm, etc.

This weeks activities involve creating a list of referents just like the pioneers who needed to construct their own shacks on their own. The use of imperial makes sense on a personal level, but the use of metric makes much more sense with our ever expanding global connections.

Using my body to measure something indoors, I've chosen the range of my rapier compared to my longsword. The rapier is three finger-widths longer. Using metric, that translates to roughly 6cm. 

Knowing the particular "measures" in swordplay.

Not being able to strike your opponent is called being "out of measure" or fuori di misura. 

The farthest distance where you could strike is called "widest measure" or Misura Larghissima.

The distance where you could strike with a lunge is called "wide measure" or Misura Largha.

The distance where you could strike without moving your feet is called "narrow measure" or Misura Stretta.

The distance where you could strike with a backstep (or retreating step) is called "narrowest measure" or Misura Strettisima.

Lunging form. 

Each of these measures differs by a "foot" length (or one advancing step with the front foot). In my case, it's 26 cm! I haven't calculated it before, but I've certainly used exactly this form of body measurement to keep myself at safe distances during swordplay.

What do we mean when we understand something? This is a goal of Roger Antonsen's TEDtalk Math is the hidden secret to understanding the world. He claims that understanding has to do with the ability to change your perspective. We use metaphors and analogies to relate one thing to something we already know creating a narrative. This storytelling helps us to see how things connect relationally - it requires imagination to see what you cannot experience! Then, in a beautiful twist, Roger reveals that empathy is seeing a new perspective from the eyes of someone else to understand their situation. Mathematics can help develop the skills required to be more empathetic and understanding not just of the abstract and complex, but of something emotional.

This connection between Antonsen (2016) and Nathan (2021)'s paper is strong with both of them focusing on metaphors to gain deeper understanding. Thinking about an analogy to these concepts of understanding, experience and teaching: student understanding is like a functional protein in biology. It's built of amino acids which are the interpretation of codons - a triplet nucleotide sequence. The nucleotide sequence is a massive string of information that is given by parents, altered by experiences/lifestyle.

Protein = understanding

Amino acids = scaffolded information / linking metaphors / stories

Nucleotides = past experiences

At each step volumes of information are interpreted for the next level of interpretation, until finally that protein or "understanding" can be used on its own as a tool for something greater.   

Just some thoughts!