New article -- detailed how's and why's of Math in Your Feet!

[Malke]

Hi,

I'm am thrilled to announce that my article, Jump Patterns: Percussive
Dance and the Path to Math, has just been published in the Teaching
Artist Journal, the only peer reviewed publication for my (still very
new) profession.

The article focuses on how my approach to teaching percussive dance
led me to search for, and find, relevant math connections. I outline
how I developed and formalized 'Jump Patterns,' a teaching tool which
illustrates the elements of percussive dance (similar to how creative
movement teaches the elements of other formal dance styles like ballet
or modern dance). I also describe how this tool has helped children
become creative in my art form and make many meaningful connections to
math topics at the same time.

Although I have shared aspects of my work on this forum in the past,
the newly-published article is the first time I have provided a
comprehensive, detailed description of Jump Patterns and how they are
used in the classroom. The article can be found at:
http://www.mathinyourfeet.com/#!publications

I am very interested to hear your thoughts, observations and questions
about my approach as well as any similarities to other approaches out
there.

All the best,

Malke

Malke Rosenfeld
Traditional Percussive Dance/Teaching Artist
Associate Editor, Teaching Artist Journal
malke.r...@earthlink.net
www.mathinyourfeet.com
www.mathinyourfeet.blogspot.com

move . engage . connect . create . think . reflect . learn

[Maria Droujkova]

Great article, Malke - thanks for sharing! I loved the photos, and especially the cool graphic organizers and visuals you use.

Do kids like to use the charts? Does it depend on the person?

Thanks a lot for sharing!

Cheers,
Maria Droujkova

Make math your own, to make your own math.

[Malke]

Hi Maria,

On Apr 16, 3:41 pm, Maria Droujkova <droujk...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Great article, Malke - thanks for sharing! I loved the photos, and
> especially the cool graphic organizers and visuals you use.
>
> Do kids like to use the charts? Does it depend on the person?

What plays out again and again in this program is that teachers are
really surprised when they see how enthusiastic their students are
when it comes to writing about their experiences in Math in Your
Feet. Recording their patterns using the one best word to describe
each category of each beat *is* challenging, but they are motivated
toward accuracy because it is *their* pattern. Also, it usually plays
out that within each team of two, one person is more comfortable in
the 2D realm of the page than the other, and one is more comfortable
moving than the other -- it's a team effort, which makes it more
comfortable for everyone. Once the kids do the tough work to record
their pattern using the descriptive words, it's actually quite easy
for them to plot their feet on the simple grid. I still think there
is a better, maybe more mathematically accurate way to do this, I just
don't know what it is yet!

There are, however, whole groups of kids who still just need the
physical portion of the program (more and more, sadly). These are
kids who never had a chance to develop spatial reasoning in preschool,
for instance. They don't have enough math, even in 4th or 5th grade,
to use the program to take them further -- I find that they begin to
understand the math concepts as if it's the *first* time they've ever
seen or heard about them. In these cases, I require just the minimum
in their workbooks, and I purposefully stay in the physical realm. It
may be the only time they will ever have to just 'play' with math.

One of the reasons I've been so interested in this forum and others
like it is that I want to keep finding the relevant math that extends
the work we're already doing with the foot-based patterns created in
this program. The idea you had about the double lines of symmetry was
really interesting to me, for example, and I want to figure out a way
to make it work choreographically with the Jump Patterns.

Best,
Malke

[Maria Droujkova]

On Sat, Apr 16, 2011 at 5:00 PM, Malke <mjr...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Maria,

On Apr 16, 3:41 pm, Maria Droujkova <droujk...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Great article, Malke - thanks for sharing! I loved the photos, and
> especially the cool graphic organizers and visuals you use.

http://www.mathinyourfeet.com/#!publications
 

>
> Do kids like to use the charts? Does it depend on the person?

What plays out again and again in this program is that teachers are
really surprised when they see how enthusiastic their students are
when it comes to writing about their experiences in Math in Your
Feet.  Recording their patterns using the one best word to describe
each category of each beat *is* challenging, but they are motivated
toward accuracy because it is *their* pattern.  Also, it usually plays
out that within each team of two, one person is more comfortable in
the 2D realm of the page than the other, and one is more comfortable
moving than the other -- it's a team effort, which makes it more
comfortable for everyone.  Once the kids do the tough work to record
their pattern using the descriptive words, it's actually quite easy
for them to plot their feet on the simple grid.  I still think there
is a better, maybe more mathematically accurate way to do this, I just
don't know what it is yet!

If you formulate this question as a separate blog post with pictures (from the article?) I will try to ask people who work on mathematical representations to help, and to respond myself. I know there is software for planning square dances, but you need a simpler model.
 

There are, however, whole groups of kids who still just need the
physical portion of the program (more and more, sadly).  These are
kids who never had a chance to develop spatial reasoning in preschool,
for instance.  They don't have enough math, even in 4th or 5th grade,
to use the program to take them further -- I find that they begin to
understand the math concepts as if it's the *first* time they've ever
seen or heard about them.  In these cases, I require just the minimum
in their workbooks, and I purposefully stay in the physical realm.  It
may be the only time they will ever have to just 'play' with math.

Mathematics is "embodied" in that its grounding, basic metaphors come from bodily experiences and observations. You can't skip over that and go into formal math. Even working with adults, I find that you need to go through folding, building, mirroring, measuring and other physical activities and/or stories if math does not make sense to them.
 

One of the reasons I've been so interested in this forum and others
like it is that I want to keep finding the relevant math that extends
the work we're already doing with the foot-based patterns created in
this program.  The idea you had about the double lines of symmetry was
really interesting to me, for example, and I want to figure out a way
to make it work choreographically with the Jump Patterns.

Again, if you want, you can make a list of main concepts you target with Jump Patterns, and we can see about taking next steps (or jumps) from them. Thank you for all you do!

[Malke]

> > > Do kids like to use the charts? Does it depend on the person?
>
> > What plays out again and again in this program is that teachers are
> > really surprised when they see how enthusiastic their students are
> > when it comes to writing about their experiences in Math in Your
> > Feet.  Recording their patterns using the one best word to describe
> > each category of each beat *is* challenging, but they are motivated
> > toward accuracy because it is *their* pattern.  Also, it usually plays
> > out that within each team of two, one person is more comfortable in
> > the 2D realm of the page than the other, and one is more comfortable
> > moving than the other -- it's a team effort, which makes it more
> > comfortable for everyone.  Once the kids do the tough work to record
> > their pattern using the descriptive words, it's actually quite easy
> > for them to plot their feet on the simple grid.  I still think there
> > is a better, maybe more mathematically accurate way to do this, I just
> > don't know what it is yet!
>
> If you formulate this question as a separate blog post with pictures (from
> the article?) I will try to ask people who work on mathematical
> representations to help, and to respond myself. I know there is software for
> planning square dances, but you need a simpler model.

Thanks Maria, I'll do this...I'm excited!

> > There are, however, whole groups of kids who still just need the
> > physical portion of the program (more and more, sadly).  These are
> > kids who never had a chance to develop spatial reasoning in preschool,
> > for instance.  They don't have enough math, even in 4th or 5th grade,
> > to use the program to take them further -- I find that they begin to
> > understand the math concepts as if it's the *first* time they've ever
> > seen or heard about them.  In these cases, I require just the minimum
> > in their workbooks, and I purposefully stay in the physical realm.  It
> > may be the only time they will ever have to just 'play' with math.
>
> Mathematics is "embodied" in that its grounding, basic metaphors come from
> bodily experiences and observations. You can't skip over that and go into
> formal math. Even working with adults, I find that you need to go through
> folding, building, mirroring, measuring and other physical activities and/or
> stories if math does not make sense to them.

This is great to hear, and I believe it wholeheartedly based on what I
see kids do in my program and in my personal math (re)learning...I
just gave a very well attended 90 minute hands-on presentation at the
NCTM annual meeting and it was surprising how many of these adults
were really quite challenged. It has nothing to do with being 'good'
at dancing and everything to do with not having enough experience
working with and within a physical realm. I attended a session on the
van Hiele Levels and realized that this probably applies to adults as
well -- experience is key to understanding.

> > One of the reasons I've been so interested in this forum and others
> > like it is that I want to keep finding the relevant math that extends
> > the work we're already doing with the foot-based patterns created in
> > this program.  The idea you had about the double lines of symmetry was
> > really interesting to me, for example, and I want to figure out a way
> > to make it work choreographically with the Jump Patterns.
>
> Again, if you want, you can make a list of main concepts you target with
> Jump Patterns, and we can see about taking next steps (or jumps) from them.
> Thank you for all you do!

Okay, I will! I'll put it in a blog post and let you know when it's
up.

Thanks so much! :)
Malke

www.mathinyourfeet.com
www.mathinyourfeet.blogspot.com

[Maria Droujkova]

On Sun, Apr 17, 2011 at 2:27 PM, Malke <mjr...@gmail.com> wrote:

This is great to hear, and I believe it wholeheartedly based on what I
see kids do in my program and in my personal math (re)learning...I
just gave a very well attended 90 minute hands-on presentation at the
NCTM annual meeting and it was surprising how many of these adults
were really quite challenged.  It has nothing to do with being 'good'
at dancing and everything to do with not having enough experience
working with and within a physical realm.  I attended a session on the
van Hiele Levels and realized that this probably applies to adults as
well -- experience is key to understanding.

Glad your presentation worked well!

Some people interpret van Hiele levels as something "global." For example, if a person is at level 2, abstraction, she will think in terms of organized properties in all contexts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Hiele_model

In my experience, it is pretty easy to throw most people into a lower level by offering a novel context. I wonder if people who seem to exhibit higher levels in novel contexts simply run through lower levels in their heads, very quickly, rather than "being at" the high level right away.

I hope it makes sense.  The take-home message is that we all need to play, doodle and tell stories within each new context.

Cheers,
MariaD

[Maria Droujkova]

Look what just came up in my blog reader! Using dances to represent the basics of computer science (quite accessible to young kids, I should add, with modifications):
http://mrhonner.com/2011/04/21/dancing-bubble-sort/

Cheers,
Maria Droujkova

Make math your own, to make your own math.

 

On Sat, Apr 16, 2011 at 3:22 PM, Malke <mjr...@gmail.com> wrote: