Let's talk math. I love math. I love showing kids and parents alike that math can be fun.
To do this with my own children, I started practicing what we call, 'math Mondays with mom'. On Monday, I would open up a book that I had on math facts, or fun games and we would do some sort of math thing together that was fun.
Today, let's rediscover some of the fascinating math facts that the great mathematicians discovered!
Let me show you an example of what I might do for math Mondays. This is a conversation, so I model asking good questions and then wait for answers and discussion.
Gather: paper, scissors, pencil, cube (rubik's cube), cone (ice cream cone?), block, ball
Present the shapes on a table: What shapes do you see? How many sides does each shape have? How can you tell?
Typically, the number of sides on a shape is defined by a straight line crossing an edge. Imagine you put a spider on each shape. Can the spider cross an edge to go onto another surface or side of the shape? On a cube, the spider can visit 6 sides, on a cone: 2, and on a block: 6. The pyramids that the ancient Egyptians built had 4 sides. Do you see why? How many sides does the ball (sphere) have? Note: A sphere is defined as having two sides, because the spider could be trapped inside the ball.
The great German mathematician, Augustus Moebius, from the early 1800s liked to play with shapes. Moebius is credited with created a new one-sided figure. He took a strip of paper about 1 inch wide, twisted it once, and taped the ends together. This is a Moebius strip. Make a Moebius strip.
If you put a spider on the strip and he walked in a straight line, he would walk on both 'sides' of the paper without crossing an edge. Because he doesn't cross an edge, he has literally walked on only one side, but since he's walked on all sides of the shape, we can conclude that the shape has only one side. You can test this by taking your pencil and drawing the path that the spider walked.
Belts for machines in the factories, car engines, and tools are often twisted to form a Moebius strip. Why do you think that is?
- What happens when you cut the strip along the path that the spider walked?
- What number is represented by the Moebius strip? Why?
- Do you know which artist was inspired by the Moebius strip? (Escher)? Check out some of his work to see why.
I challenge you to see how much fun you can have with your kids discovering the uniqueness of this shape!
Go further: Check out this neat little article and video on the Moebius Strip