Week 7 Reading

This article, written for the MACAS (Mathematics and its Connections to the Arts and Sciences) conference, introduces the theme of “circular movements of healing” through mathematics, arts, and craft. The authors bring together a series of collaborative projects - intergenerational labyrinth-making, fabric sculpting to explore curvature, embodied geometry in a spiral playground, ceramic practice-based research, crafting artifacts as collective “matters of care,” and learning from the circular structure of Capoeira - to examine what it means to work across disciplinary boundaries in slower, more embodied, and affective ways. They argue that efforts to integrate math with arts and craft often run up against institutional expectations and rigid views of mathematics, and they call for transdisciplinary spaces that attend to fear, alienation, embodiment, materiality, dialogue, and social justice as part of reimagining how mathematics can be experienced and learned


It was honestly hard to pare down my “stops” this week because each project felt unique, offering a slightly different entry point into what math could be. I took the course this summer that allowed me to virtually attend the MACAS conference, and I really appreciated the openness of ideas and willingness to rethink mathematics. My first stop was reading about Susan and Cynthia’s labyrinth work (which we’ve watched videos about in other courses). After last week’s reading, where students in a college liberal math class chose their own focus, I saw the parallel, this community chose labyrinths as their way into mathematics and as a way to confront math fear. There’s something powerful about allowing learners to make choices that matter to them. I was also reminded of a podcast I listened to this week about how differently our students are being raised - they are encouraged to advocate and think critically. They want to understand why they are doing the math we ask of them. I remembered my own students being fascinated by a labyrinth at a nearby church and could see how that could be a meaningful entry point. I was curious about why there was a labyrinth at a church, When I looked it up, I learned that a labyrinth isn’t a maze with dead ends but a single winding path to the center and back out again. It is a purposeful, reflective journey, and several churches have a long relationship with having labyrinths.

“By engaging with art in ways that honours these subtleties, learners and educators can cultivate a mindset that appreciates complexity, embraces uncertainty, and recognizes the creative potential inherent in chance. Experiences shaped through such practice can inspire learners to overcome hesitation, take initiative, make thoughtful choices, and grow, ultimately contributing to the transformation of their learning communities.

My second stop was in the section on ceramic sculpture and the idea of navigating real risks - collapses, cracks, unexpected outcomes - but how clay as a medium actually invites play, experimentation, and risk-taking. That immediately made me think of our push toward whiteboards and non-permanent surfaces in math classrooms to lower the stakes and encourage that same kind of intellectual risk. At the same time, it made me think about the downsizing of dedicated art, music, and shop classes. Fewer students get sustained opportunities to work deeply with materials like clay or instruments, and classroom teachers are often trying to compensate with limited supplies and support. I found myself wondering what we lose, not just artistically but mathematically, when students have fewer chances to engage materially, take risks, and learn through making.

“Could one radically re-imagine a mathematics department that is built around openness regarding epistemological and ontological approaches?”

My final stop was in the closing section where the authors discuss themes across the projects and return to the idea of re-imagining our institutions. This connects so clearly to the thread we’ve been following since our first curriculum course - questioning the structures we work within and asking what might be possible if we truly loosened them. The discussion of slow science and the values of slow practice in arts and design stood out to me. Rather than prioritizing efficiency, coverage, and acceleration, the authors point toward embodied making, intergenerational learning, material engagement, and time for resonance. It feels like a reminder that if we want different outcomes in mathematics education, we may need to rethink not only classroom practices, but the institutional rhythms and values that shape them. I feel like this course is really completing the circle we started.Returning to the questions we began with about curriculum, institutions, and what mathematics could become, but now with deeper language, broader perspectives, and a greater willingness to imagine something different.

Chronaki et al (2025). Circular movements of healing with maths, arts and craft: Reimagining disciplinary transversals for learning. In Proceedings of MACAS 2025, University of Moncton, NB.

Week 6 Activity and Viewings

 For this week’s activity, I unfortunately didn’t get a chance to try anything with a full class, it was just one of those weeks 😏  but I did try the mathematical wave and handshake at home with my husband and daughter.

I figured out how to do the handshake, but, does anyone else struggle with twisting their arms that way? I can technically make it work, but it does not look natural or smooth enough yet to pass as a convincing trick. I feel like I need more practice before trying it in front of a group of students. That said, I do want to keep working on it because I can see how engaging it would be in a classroom, maybe as a hook into rotations or transformations in geometry?

The wave was also really interesting. After we got the basic pattern, I started wondering what would happen if we continued it. Of course, physically, an arm can’t keep rotating in that direction forever, which immediately opens up such a great mathematical conversation. What are the limits of physical space versus mathematical abstraction? I can see how this is useful not only for rotations in geometry but also for robotics, thinking about joints, range of motion, constraints, and modelling movement.

From the viewings, I really enjoyed the longsword dances. Both of my daughters did Highland dance for years, and I could easily envision choreographing something similar using patterned movement, especially for open choreography divisions. The only thing I’m unsure about is that they use real (blunted) swords, not sticks. I’m not sure if that would change the feasibility of certain formations or crossings.

Picture of the broadsword dance in Highland Dance

I also spoke with the music teacher at the school where I’m based about the 3-beat and 4-beat clapping pattern meeting at 12. She was immediately intrigued. She often tells students that there is a lot of math in music, and this felt like a tangible way to show it rather than just say it. We’ve started discussing some sort of collaboration, which I’m excited about. It feels like one of those small entry points where students could physically experience least common multiples instead of just calculating them.

Week 6 Reading Learning to love math through the exploration of maypole patterns

 In Learning to Love Math through the Exploration of Maypole Patterns, Campbell and von Renesse describe an inquiry-based math course for non-math majors where students explored maypole dancing as a way into serious mathematical thinking. Instead of being handed procedures, students developed their own representations, definitions, and theorems to determine how many non-equivalent ribbon patterns exist for different numbers of ribbons and colours. The paper also follows Julianna, a student from the class who continued the work as an independent study, showing how this kind of open, inquiry-driven experience can completely shift a student’s relationship with mathematics.

As interesting as I found the idea of the maypole dance, watching the patterns emerge, and discovering the mathematics around it, my first stop was actually the structure of the “Mathematical Explorations” course itself. The fact that it is built around meta-goals rather than specific content goals really caught my attention. Helping students appreciate math as a human endeavour, strengthen reasoning, become reflective learners, and building their confidence in math. Just the freedom to loosen the grip on content coverage and allow students to pursue meaningful questions and passion projects feels significant. When Julianna describes how she became “a master of faking her way through math” in high school, that felt very familiar to me. That is honestly how I felt I got through much of math myself. I learned the steps, mimicked what the teacher did, got the answer, and moved on. Now, looking back I feel that my own classes were structured in ways that encouraged that same behaviour. Students were watching me, copying me, trying to reproduce what I modelled, but not always developing deep understanding underneath it. Reading her reflection made me think about how many capable students have strong curiosity and insight but learn to suppress it because school math rewards compliance over inquiry.

My second stop was the moment after their first maypole dance when the professor simply asked, “What do you notice? What do you wonder?” I love how simple that is. No hint about what they should see, just space to observe. I’ve only started intentionally using those kinds of openers this year when I’m invited into classrooms to demonstrate high-yield routines like Math Talk Images or Which One Doesn’t Belong. I love how all students can enter the mathematics without fear because there isn’t a single correct observation. They aren’t trying to decode the my expectations; they’re actually thinking. I really do wish I had discovered this 20 years ago. I feel that this one way in which we can invite back the curiosity and inquiry back into math that Julianna felt was missing in her school years.

My questions is: How can we create space for students’ natural curiosity and inquiry within the structures of curriculum and classroom, while still ensuring that essential concepts are developed deeply and coherently? Where is the balance between open exploration/inquiry model and intentional instruction, especially when we know that gaps in foundational understanding can surface later and cause issues (like I’ve seen in Grade 9)?

If you are curious about the Mathematical Explorations course, they have more information, examples, and ideas at: https://www.artofmathematics.org/ 

Week 5 Reading - Movement Based Math without Compromising Learning

 

Riley et al. examine the EASY Minds program, a six-week intervention that integrated movement into primary mathematics lessons in New South Wales schools. The study included Grade 5/6 classes across eight public schools, with 66 students participating in focus groups and four teachers interviewed about their experiences. The findings showed that embedding physical activity into math increased student enjoyment and engagement without compromising learning, and teachers reported renewed reflection on their pedagogy.

Stop One

My first stop was the idea that schools need novel strategies to promote physical activity across the day, not just in PE. The authors suggest integrating movement across the curriculum as one solution. That immediately made me think about numeracy. One of my goals in my job it to encourage teachers to integrate numeracy throughout the day, not just during math block.

But schools are built on the “grid”: separate subjects, bells, rooms, timetables. Everything reinforces separation. To truly integrate movement (or numeracy), we would almost need a more open and flexible structure. It made me realize that the challenge isn’t always teacher willingness, sometimes it’s the system we’re working inside that makes integration difficult.

Stop Two

My second stop was the reminder that of all the things schools can control, it is the teacher and the quality of the pedagogy that most directly affects learning outcomes. 

Students described theses lessons as freeing and more fun. They even noticed their teachers seemed more relaxed and invested. The teachers themselves said it helped them re-evaluate what they might have been stuck doing for years. That part resonated with me. I don’t think most teachers want dull lessons. I think many of us want engaging, meaningful experiences for students. The challenge is time, energy, and resources. Our days are rushed. Planning (or even finding something already planned) takes effort. Having a structured program with training and materials, like the EASY Minds program described in the article, seems to lower that barrier. It gives teachers support and permission to try something different without starting from scratch. I think sometimes innovation isn’t about teachers lacking ideas, but about lacking the structural support to make those ideas sustainable.

Question for the Group

Would you be willing to try a program like this in your own classroom? And do you agree that it’s often not lack of interest, but lack of time, energy, and structural support that keeps many of us from trying new approaches?

Week 5 Activity

 

Curriculum Sketch – Hearing Shapes (Grade 3, BC Context)

This week I tried the “hear shapes” activity in the Polygon section of Mathigon with a Grade 3 class. I wasn’t totally sure how it would go, but they were so into it. The room got quiet in that focused way where you know they’re really thinking. They were listening carefully, testing shapes, and arguing (in a good way!) about what was controlling the sound.

At one point there was a shape that almost everyone drew the same way, but the example on the site showed it differently. Instead of just saying one was right, we stopped and talked it through. Would their version follow the same sound rule? Why or why not? That turned into a really interesting conversation about structure versus appearance. We also started brainstorming how we could add angle sounds to help clarify the different shapes.


Guiding Questions:

How can we sort and describe shapes using their attributes?
Curriculum link: Students identify and describe 2D shapes by characteristics (e.g., number of sides, symmetry).

What stays the same when we rotate or flip a shape?
Curriculum link: Exploring transformations supports understanding of shape properties and geometric reasoning.

Can shapes that look different have something in common mathematically?
Curriculum link: Comparing and classifying shapes based on shared attributes (e.g., quadrilaterals with four sides) encourages reasoning and justification.

How can we use words, drawings, and symbols to explain what we notice?
Curriculum link: Communicating mathematical thinking using multiple representations is emphasized in the curriculum.


The Story

We begin with the built-in Polygon example and listen first. Before any formal explanation, students notice patterns and make guesses about the rule. This supports the BC emphasis on reasoning and predicting before formalizing ideas.

After revealing the rule (for example, number of sides controls pitch and length of the note controls side length), students recreate the shapes to test their understanding.

From there, we shift toward classification and justification:
Can you find two shapes that sound the same?
Why do they sound the same?
What mathematical property is controlling the sound?

This naturally leads into conversations about quadrilaterals (square vs. rhombus), equal sides, angles, and structure — directly supporting BC geometry outcomes.



Integrating Embodied Learning & Other Learning
Build and manipulate shapes digitally.
Rotate and reflect shapes and see how that changes the sound
Come up with body movements to go along with the sounds

Possible Extensions
Add an “angle rule” to connect to measuring and comparing angles
Try to figure out how to incorporate area of the shape into sound 

Oops, I forgot to add in my artwork from this week. I tried using base 4 numbers and using concentric squares instead of circles. 

 

Group Project Proposal: Multiplication Through Art, Play and Place

Group Members: Vannessa Smythe & Nicole Fulton

Title: Multiplication Through Art, Play, and Place

Level: Grades 3/4   

Mathematical Focus

• Developing conceptual understanding of multiplication as:
• Equal groups
• Repeated addition
• Visual and spatial representations of number relationships
• Communicating mathematical thinking through oral, written, and artistic forms

Pedagogical Approaches

• Embodied learning
• Arts-based pedagogy
• Play-based learning
• Outdoor and place-based learning
• Multiple modes of representation and expression

Research Context and Classroom Implementation

This lesson sequence will be implemented in a Grade 3 classroom where students are beginning formal instruction in multiplication. The lessons will be embedded within regular mathematics instruction and designed to support students in developing conceptual understanding of multiplication through embodied, visual, and artistic experiences.

In addition to a post-assessment, student work samples, photographs of representations, and anecdotal observations will be collected throughout the lesson sequence. Particular attention will be paid to how students use multiple modes of representation, including physical actions, visual models, oral explanations, and artistic expression, to communicate their mathematical thinking.



Planned Lesson Sequence (5 Lessons Total)

1. Stamping Multiplication Art

• Students use manipulatives (e.g., Lego bricks) to create stamped artwork
• Each stamp represents a consistent group size (e.g., groups of 2, 4, 6, or 10)
• Students design an artistic composition using color and repetition
• Students orally explain or write the corresponding multiplication sentence

      2. Indigenous-Inspired Dot Art Multiplication

• Students create dot art designs (e.g., flowers or circular forms)
• Each section or petal contains a fixed number of dots (e.g., 25 or 50)
• The number of sections represents the number of equal groups
• Students communicate the associated multiplication equation orally or in writing
• Learning is framed within a respectful discussion of Indigenous art practices

     3. Outdoor Multiplication Sculpture

• Students collect natural materials (e.g., twigs, stones, pinecones)
• Materials are organized into consistent groups (e.g., bundles of five)
• Students create an outdoor artwork or structure using repeated groups
• Students explain or document the multiplication represented in their work

    Lesson 4 – To Be Developed

• Additional arts-based or play-based multiplication experience
• Focus on student collaboration and mathematical communication

    Lesson 5 – To Be Developed

• Culminating multiplication representation or reflection
• Opportunity for student choice and creative expression

Draft Annotated Bibliography


Alibali, M. W., & Nathan, M. J. (2012). Embodiment in mathematics teaching and learning: Evidence from learners' and teachers' gestures. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 21(2), 247–286. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508406.2011.611446

This study explores how learners’ and teachers’ gestures contribute to mathematical thinking and demonstrates that physical movement is closely linked to understanding mathematical ideas. The authors show that gestures support reasoning about quantity, structure, and relationships by allowing learners to externalize their thinking in space. This article supports our project by highlighting how bodily movement and embodied actions can reinforce ideas of grouping, repetition, and spatial arrangement that underpin multiplication, complementing visual and art-based approaches.

Boaler, Jo, Chen, L., Williams, C., & Cordero, M. (2016). Seeing as understanding: The importance of visual mathematics for our brain and learning. Journal of Applied & Computational Mathematics, 5(5), 1–6.

This article draws on neuroscience and classroom research to show that many mathematical concepts are stored in visual and sensory-motor memory systems, meaning that mathematical thinking relies heavily on visual, spatial, and embodied brain pathways even when working with symbols. This research is particularly helpful for Grade 3/4 multiplication instruction, as it supports providing students with opportunities to use visual representations, manipulatives, and to develop their own gestures and physical actions to build conceptual understanding of multiplication before formal symbolic procedures.

Brezovnik, A. (2017). The benefits of fine art integration into mathematics in primary school. CEPS Journal, 5(3), 11–32. https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.125

This study investigates the effects of integrating fine art into mathematics instruction at the primary school level and found that students who learned mathematics through art achieved higher results than those taught through traditional methods. The author argues that art integration supports visual imagination, motivation, and creative mathematical thinking by helping students engage with mathematical ideas in more meaningful and expressive ways. This article supports our project by providing empirical evidence that art-based approaches enhance mathematical understanding and student engagement, strengthening the rationale for using visual and creative activities as a foundation for mathematics instruction.

Cartwright, K. (2024). Interpreting young children's multiplicative strategies through their drawn representations. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 36(2), 367–397. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13394-023-00450-4

This study examines how young children express their understanding of multiplication through their drawn representations. The author shows that children use drawings to reveal strategies such as grouping, repeated addition, and structuring quantities, even when they do not yet use formal mathematical language. This article supports our project by demonstrating that drawing and visual representation are powerful tools for making multiplicative thinking visible, reinforcing the value of art-based activities as a way to support and interpret students’ understanding of multiplication.

Furner, J., Powers, J., & Brown, S. (2021). Studying Mayan culture in the elementary classroom: Integrating mathematics, visual arts and technology through an authentic multi-leveled curriculum. International Journal of Whole Schooling, 17(1), 1.

This practitioner-focused article describes an interdisciplinary unit in which elementary students learned mathematical concepts through the study of Mayan culture using visual arts and hands-on materials. Students represented numerical systems, grouping, and repeated quantities through artistic designs, symbols, and manipulatives, helping them make sense of structure and quantity visually. This article supports our project by showing how visual art and cultural design can be used to model grouping, arrays, and repeated addition, making multiplication more concrete and accessible for elementary students.

Holtzman, C., & Susholtz, L. (2011). Object lessons: Teaching math through the visual arts, K-5 (1st ed.). Stenhouse Publishers. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003579076

This book explores how mathematical understanding develops through visual art, hands-on materials, and meaningful objects. In the sections related to multiplication, students engage in activities such as measuring facial features and then doubling or halving those measurements to create disproportionate portraits, making multiplicative change visible through scaling and design. We draw on this approach in our project by using art-making to explore grouping, scaling, and repeated change, allowing students to represent multiplicative ideas through visual structure and creative expression rather than symbolic calculation alone.

Mageed, I. A. (2025). Phenomenal fractal geometric techniques in mathematics education for Key Stage 2 students: A new paradigm for teaching multiplication tables. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202506.2486.v1

This article proposes a visual and pattern-based approach to teaching multiplication in which students generate fractal-like geometric designs from multiplication tables, drawing on constructivist learning theory and insights from brain research on visual pattern recognition. The article is particularly helpful for Grade 3/4 multiplication instruction as it supports using art-based visual representations and pattern exploration to help students see mathematics as a system of meaningful patterns to be explored, rather than a set of rules or facts to be memorized.

Nemirovsky, R., Rasmussen, C., Sweeney, G., & Wawro, M. (2012). When the classroom floor becomes the complex plane: Addition and multiplication as ways of bodily navigation. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 21(2), 287–323. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508406.2011.611445

This qualitative study looks at how students use body movement, gesture, and space to understand addition and multiplication during a mathematics lesson. The authors show that mathematical ideas are developed through physical actions and interactions with the learning environment, not just through symbols or written procedures. This research directly supports our project by encouraging the use of movement-based activities, such as stomping, stepping, and spatial exploration, to help students build meaning in multiplication rather than focusing only on getting correct answers.

Physical Activity in Mathematics Education: Developing “Grundvorstellungen” of Multiplication by Learning through Physical Activity (Bayer & Rottmann, 2018). https://tidsskrift.dk/learningtech/article/view/110494

This study investigates learning multiplication through physical activity using three purposefully designed movement-based games, Jumping Along the Number Line, Multiplicative Relay Race, and Multiplicative Atomic Game, each targeting different aspects of multiplication as equal groups, supported by pre- and post-assessments to examine conceptual growth. Despite limitations in sample size and duration, the study is particularly helpful for our work, as it emphasizes students’ physical engagement and meaning-making in multiplication, focusing on developing conceptual understanding rather than solely on producing correct answers.

Putrawangsa, S. Visualising Multiplication through Spatial Analogy: Exploring the Role of Embodiment and Spatial Reasoning in Promoting Mathematical Visualisation.

This mixed-methods doctoral study examines multiplication instruction with primary students of a similar age to those in Grades 3/4, focusing on the use of embodied activities, visual representations, and spatial reasoning. The study is particularly helpful for our project as it shows how students leverage interconnected modes such as physical action, gesture, visual models, and talk to develop flexible problem-solving strategies, supporting a smooth transition from concrete experiences to abstract reasoning and enabling students to generalise their understanding across contexts.

Schoevers, E. M., Leseman, P. P. M., & Kroesbergen, E. H. (2020). Enriching mathematics education with visual arts: Effects on elementary school students’ ability in geometry and visual arts. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 18, 1613–1634. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-019-10018-z

This study investigates the impact of integrating visual arts into mathematics instruction and found that art-based approaches strengthened students’ visual–spatial reasoning and mathematical understanding. The authors argue that artistic activities help students recognize structure and patterns, which are central to mathematical thinking. This research supports the use of visual art, such as dot-based designs and creating stamped artwork, as meaningful ways to deepen conceptual understanding in elementary mathematics.

Xu, H., & Ball, R. (2024a). Indigenous mathematics: From mainstream misconceptions to educational enrichment. Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, 24(2), 160–175. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42330-024-00321-5

This article challenges the misconception that Indigenous peoples lack sophisticated mathematical knowledge and presents evidence that Indigenous mathematics includes complex reasoning related to patterning, measurement, spatial relationships, and prediction. The authors argue that narrow, Eurocentric definitions of mathematics exclude culturally embedded forms of mathematical thinking and limit what is recognized as legitimate learning. This study supports our project by emphasizing that mathematics is often expressed through visual design, cultural practices, and relational systems, which aligns with using art-based lessons to make multiplication meaningful and culturally responsive for Grade 3/4 students.

Xu, H., & Ball, R. (2024b). Multiple forms of knowing in mathematics: A scoping literature study. https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2406.16921

This scoping study reviews research on ethnomathematics and Indigenous mathematics and shows that mathematical thinking is deeply embedded in cultural, artistic, and land-based practices such as weaving, building, games, and pattern-making. The authors argue that these practices involve important mathematical ideas like patterning, spatial reasoning, and measurement, and that recognizing them challenges narrow, Eurocentric views of mathematics. This study supports our project by justifying the use of art-based, place-based, and outdoor lessons as meaningful ways to teach multiplication to Grade 3/4 students.

Week 4 Reading - Math through figure skatig

 For the Week 4 reading on using trigonometry to model figure skating spins, I wasn’t able to open the Geometer’s Sketchpad link to actually play around with the model. I did try to work through some of the questions shown, though, and I can see how this would be a really engaging way to bring math concepts to life, especially right now with the Olympics just starting. 

This reading also brought back a strong memory from high school physics. My physics teacher, who truly made me love the subject, had a tall spinning stool in the classroom. He had us sit on it with our arms out and then pull our arms in to feel how the spin sped up. Even 30+ years later, I still remember that lesson. It was embodied math and science before I had language for it.

I’ve often been disappointed that my daughter, who loves math, doesn’t enjoy physics. I remember telling her, but physics is math, it's useful math. In physics, the answers meant something. With quadratics, for example, you don’t just find roots; you figure out how far something traveled, how high it went, or how long it stayed in the air. Looking back, I think this difference comes from how I learned math versus physics. Math often felt like a puzzle where the reward was the correct answer but didn't really understand what it was I was solving and more importantly why. While physics was tied to real experiences, things I could see, feel, and imagine.

Connecting this reading to the Bridges work and the Vi Hart videos from this week really helped things click for me. Bridges shows how mathematics can live in movement, art, and the body, and Vi Hart’s work reminds us that math can be playful, sensory, and deeply human. Together, they emphasized how much of the math–arts divide is something we’ve created through schooling, rather than something that needs to exist at all. As I said in my activity post, on a podcast I listened to this week, one of the people said that we don't need to re-humanize math, we just need to stop de-humanizing it.

Question for the group: Was your experience with math similar (disconnected from the rest of the world)? And how do you think we can stop de-humanizing math? 

Link to podcast (the part about humanizing math starts at about 21 minutes in, trigger warning for language and sensitive subject matter):

https://www.maththerapypodcast.com/1734392/episodes/15012873-math-doesn-t-cause-trauma-people-do-w-sean-nank

Week 4 Activity - Bridges Art work attemp

 This week really made me notice how deeply the math–arts binary has been baked into my own life. Growing up, math and science were the serious subjects, and art and music were considered to be extras. By high school, I dropped music and art entirely so I could take all of the math and sciences courses. I never once thought about how they might actually work together or even strengthen one another.

Trying out a few of the Bridges-inspired projects helped disrupt that thinking. I played around with the rainbow Möbius scarf (I never got it to work quite right, but I wonder if part of that was I was using paper and not material so it doesn't sit quite right) and also some beaded geometric shapes, and what stood out wasn’t the final product, but the process. Making forced me to slow down and really notice patterns, repetition, and structure. I also had to try a few times to get it right.

I also loved the Vi Hart videos this week. I knew her math/art video already (from this class and from showing them years ago to some of my classes), but the math/music pieces were new to me. The braid video in particular felt surprisingly powerful, almost meditative. Listening with headphones gave me actual tingles, and it made me think about how some people believe that certain sounds and frequencies can affect our bodies and emotions. 

What struck me most this week was the realization that the math-art separation hasn’t always been this way. It’s only been separated from art, music, and creativity relatively recently. I was listening to a podcast this morning (https://youtu.be/8G5fg9M4lcs?si=ym5iQEnurQ-EpD3c) and the guest said that mathematics has always been human, we just need to strip away what we have added that has dehumanized it. I also liked his thought that math doesn't cause math trauma, humans do as math anxiety is a big focus for me in my work. This week felt like an invitation to remember math as creative, embodied, and deeply human, not something that needs art added in, but something that already belongs there.